Hampshire Junior Closed Championships

Jonathan Evans became the Under 13 Hampshire Table Tennis Boys Singles champion at the recent Hampshire Junior Closed Championships . The Basingstoke star who is still just 11 years old took the title by comfortably beating Waterside player, Jamie Willsher 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 in the final. Evans was a worthy winner of this title and has  also improved at National level this year, playing well in tournaments in Cirencester, Cippenham and Chesham recently. Jonathan is now ranked 25th in England at Under 13. At 11 years old, he still has another year to play in the Under 13s age group.

Also representing Basingstoke was 10 year old Louis Webb who also faired well in the under 13’s doing well in the group stage and first knock-out round, winning through to the semi-finals. Unfortunately the draw saw Webb competing against Evans in the semi-finals, where Jonathan's experience showed through, winning 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.  

Both players entered the under 15 singles event  and Evans had the easier draw, and was successful in winning his group, beating Francis Armitage and Graham Canavan. In the first knock-out round, Jonathan beat Josh White 10-12, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4. However in the quarter finals, Jonathan came up against Riahao Zhane, a formidable opponent, and went down 5-11, 5-11, 10-12, narrowly missing winning the third game. Webb had a tougher  draw and his one win from 3 did not take him through a group that included a very strong player David McBeth who  had competed in the Division One National County Championships just the previous day, which he helped win for Hampshire.