|
London and North West
shared the spoils at the National Team Championships as both counties
won two gold medals at Wolverhampton University’s Walsall Sports
Campus, on Saturday 17 July.
170 players competed
in Britain’s premier team event which featured a classy combination
of emerging talent and British internationals.
The coveted senior men’s
category was a hotly-contested affair with contests pushing players
to their physical limits as they plotted their way through the
talent-rich field.
London and Midlands
produced a pulsating match in the semi-final as the capacity crowd
roared the well-matched teams on. The match went down to a nail-biting
finale which saw Midlands triumph in the fifth and final match
to seal a 3-2 win and a final against a high-flying North West
side.
The final was a tense
affair as both teams strived to raise the intensity after absorbing
contests in the earlier rounds. The North West ground out the
win as the team of Karl Etherington, Michael Horley, David Groom,
Daniel Lyon and Nathon Burns bested their Midlands counterparts.
In the action-packed
senior women’s division a star-studded Scottish team quickly came
to the fore as they dominated proceedings. The team featured Sally
Conway and Sarah Adlington, who both took fifth at the Russian
Grand Slam this month, fellow standouts Connie Ramsay and Kimberley
Renicks, and fast-rising teenager Jodie Mullen.
In the finals the renowned
quintet thwarted a spirited effort from the Midlands to reign
supreme and add another title to their ever-filling trophy cabinet.
Scotland Team Manager
David Somerville believes the experience of the event was just
as important as winning.
“We weren’t planning
on putting in Sally Conway and Sarah Adlington but we had a couple
of injuries so we thought it was a good opportunity to give them
a run out.
“Mixed in there was
some young talent, we had Jodie, a junior in there which was very
encouraging,” he added.
“I thought the level
of competition was fantastic, it’s first the National Team event
I’ve been to in a long time.”
The Scottish Manager
believes the pressures of the event and tactical approaches add
extra elements for a player to experience.
“Some fighters can formulate
strategies before such an event and so it’s quite interesting.
I think it offers different pressure situations to individual
events,” he said.
“The atmosphere was
good and it was a really good experience for the players.”
Elsewhere the junior
men’s title went to the Midlands, while the junior women’s honours
went to London.
North West claimed the
cadet girls’ title while the boys’ prize went to the London.
Basil Dawkins, London
Area Junior and Cadet Team Team Coach, said: "It was a great
effort. I am particularly proud of our Cadet boys team in winning
the very first event in this new format. Many areas stuggled to
produce full teams. The team manager Dave Dunsford
deserves a lot of respect for bringing it all together.
It was a real area effort to bring together players from ten differnt
clubs in the London Area to compete in every category. "
Senior Men Medalists (Gold: North West, Silver: Midlands,
Bronze:Scotland and London A)
Senior
Women Medalists (Gold: Scotland, Silver: Midlands, Bronze: London
and South)
Junior
Men Medalists (Gold: Midlands, Silver: South, Bronze:Scotland
and London)
Cadets
Boys Medalists: (Gold: London, Silver: NHC, Bronze: South and
Midlands)
Cadets Girls Medalists:
(Gold:North West, Silver: NHC, Bronze: Midlands and South)
|