DARREN Gray and Mike Psaila have won Bourne Club’s two major squash tournaments, the Schwabe Cup and Hounsham Handicap Cup.
Both tournaments started in late March, with the Schwabe event attracting 32 entries and the Hounsham Handicap 27 players.
The Schwabe, to find the best singles player at the club, went with the seedings until the later stages. Due to work commitments, top seed Jack Waldron had to withdraw against third seed Richard Hargreaves in one semi-final, while No 2 Darren Gray dispatched No 4 Kevin Ryan in the other semi-final.
The final was thus a repeat of the last two years. Hargreaves trailed 2-5 and 4-8 in the first game before fighting back to 8-8 and then easing ahead to take it 15-11. He had failed to take a game off Gray in the previous two finals, so this was a good start.
But Gray came out strongly in the second game, quickly taking a 6-0 lead, and although Hargreaves rallied to 4-6, Gray pulled away to 11-5 and won 15-11 to level the match.
The third was more clear-cut as Gray led 5-1, 8-2 and 11-3 before finishing the game off 15-7.
He needed just one more game to complete a hat-trick of championships, but Hargreaves was not giving up easily and surged into a 5-2 lead. Gray rattled off the next five points to go 7-5 ahead, but Hargreaves hung in there and was still in the match at 8-10. Gray had that bit extra, though, and eased away to take the game 15-11 and the match 3-1.
Mike Psaila met Charlie Mayer in the Hounsham Handicap final. Psaila had some tough matches on the way, beating Rich Hamilton and Bill Peters, both in five games, and defeating experienced team player Joe Collett 3-0 in the semi-finals.
Mayer had seen off Alan Davison and Iain Steele, both in four, then Paul Hudson-Oldnall and Steve Brownlow, both in three.
Tournament organiser Gary Hales had changed the handicaps after every round and, for the final, Psaila started each game on minus 4 and Mayer on plus 4.
Mayer played the opening game at his usual high pace, hitting hard from the back, chasing everything down and showing good variety in the front corners.
Psaila could not cope with his opponent’s sustained energy and with the eight-point handicap difference, lost 8-15. He raised his game in the second, catching up to 1-7 and 7-10 as a few errors crept into Mayer’s game.
Psaila’s shot deception was superb and although Mayer never gave up on any ball, he lost the second game 11-15 and trailed 11-12 in the third.
Mayer, who never knows when he’s beaten, took three of the next four points to hold game ball at 14-13. Psaila stayed cool, saved the point and played a lovely wrong-footing trickle boast to take the game 15-14.
Back came Charlie, galvanised by family support in the gallery, and just stayed ahead throughout the fourth to take it 15-12 and level the match at 2-2.
But the effort had taken a lot out of Mayer. He won the opening rally of the decider, but managed only one more point as Psaila cruised home 15-6. He thus became the Hounsham Handicap champion for the first time.
Peter Johnston defeated Paul Hudson-Oldnall 3-1 (15-9, 15-9, 9-15, 15-11) in the Schwabe Plate final, while Nick Johnson (starting on minus 3) beat Paul Anderegg (plus 5) 3-2 (15-11, 13-15, 8-15, 15-9, 15-10) in the Hounsham Plate final.
The tournaments were organised by Gary Hales and the trophies were presented by squash committee chairman Derick Jacob. The referees were John Hayman and Gary Hales.