2010 Junior Pennants - Autumn Series - Week 4 of 5

The fourth week saw the Junior Pennants semi-finals and saw a repeat of last weeks clashes where the Falcons took on the Hawks, and the Eagles looked for a reversal of fortunes against the Crows.

The Hawks put up a much stronger showing this week against the Falcons, who won last weeks encounter. The Hawks, with their new player Marcus Tan (replacing Tam Ho), played some very competitive games. Silvi Botha, Owen Chan and Brendan Murray kept their games alive with some strong smashes and clever clears, while Samantha Kendall combined well in the doubles with Silvi and Tsuyoshi Takashima to keep the Falcons on their toes.

There were some very close matches, including Matthew Teo & Dylan Wong (Falcons) winning 21-20 against Owen Chan & Jeremy Tie (Hawks), and also Titus Tan & Ade Bambang (Falcons) losing narrowly 20-21 against Marcus Tan & Silvi Botha (Hawks).

The Falcons kept their consistency on all fronts with Titus Tan, Matthew Teo and Cameron Smith (all three of whom trained together the day before the semi's at Craigie) leading the charge to take two more doubles matches than the Hawks and that was crucial as the Falcons edged the tie 10-8 and with it a berth in the Finals next week.

In the other semi-final the Eagles showed their strengths in singles to take a commanding 7 of the 8 singles matches played against the Crows. In particular Herman Chan, Alvin Khuu, Cavan Yau and Leonard Yau played very strongly against their opponents combining agile movements with gutsy play.

The Crows never gave up hope and responded brilliantly in the doubles to take 8 of the 10 doubles matches in return. Crows pairs playing strongly were Julian Ng & Heer Gudka, Edward Win & Heer Gudka, Nicole Yau & Ella Whyte, and Mark Grant & Gareth Evans.

At the end of the 18 matches, the score was 9-9 and it went down to points, which the Crows narrowly edged by 328 pts to the Eagles's 315 pts.

It was great to see the junior players, many of whom had not played together before, getting on the courts and giving it their all in the exciting doubles matches.

Team Standings After Week 4 - Semi-Finals Results:

Falcons beat Hawks : match score - 10 to 8

Crows beat Eagles (on pts) : match score - 9 to 9, points score - 328 pts to 315.

Team Standings After Round Robin Stage and Prior to Knockout Stage (week 3):

In the Final week - Week 5, the final play-offs will take place to determine the final placings of the teams.

The very close 13 point victory gave the Crows the opportunity to take on the Falcons for the final championship decider next week, while the Eagles will take on the Hawks for 3rd spot.

Next week the finals will start at 1pm and will be followed at its conclusion by the presentation ceremony at around 3pm.

Trophies will be awarded to the winning and runner up teams, while prizes / trophies will also be awarded to players who played exceptionally over the five weeks. So, good luck to all teams for next week. We look forward to another week of strong competition from all players / teams.

2010 Junior Pennants Semester 1 Teams:

CROWS: Julian Ng, Heer Gudka, Nicole Yau, Mark Grant, Edward Win, Ella Whyte (Captain), Brendan Burns, Gareth Evans

EAGLES: Herman Chan, Alvin Khuu, Lizzy Leroy, Cavan Yau, Daniel Tie, Alana Shaylor, Lim Eih Bin (Captain), Leonard Yau

FALCONS: Titus Tan (Captain), Dylan Wong, Ade Bambang, Matthew Teo, James Cooper, Alice Hon, Adi Bambang, Cameron Smith

HAWKS: Tam Ho/Marcus Tan, Owen Chan, Silvi Botha, Jeremy Tie, Tsuyoshi Takashima, Samantha Kendall (Captain), Brendan Murray, Ziao Veneziani

Information and photos provided by: Stephen Teo, Badminton WA, Junior Development.