Ware’s the Butler? – He’s on the Podium!

Matt Ware, the current England number 11 ranked player teamed up with Mark Butler to justify their seeding and win the 3^rd annual Cippenham Team 2-Star Open Championship on Sunday. In fact, they won through six matches winning 2-0 all the way although Butler, a member of Cippenham’s first team in the British League, did have to pull out all the stops on a couple of occasions, being taken to five ends by both Chris Knight and Dave Langham. Ware, on the other hand, was extended to five ends only in the pulsating opening match of the final against the England number one veteran Abdul Wuraola. Imaginately entitled “Ware’s the Butler?”, the top seeded team of Ware and Butler won that final against Abdul Sports & Table Tennis Ltd 2-0 with Butler finishing the job with a fantastic 3-0 win over Ashley Stokes, a player ranked 50 places higher in the country.

The Cippenham Team Open is different to any other tournament in the country. Instead of contestants playing as individuals and going home when knocked-out, in the Team Open they progress as a pair. Play throughout the day is governed by a progressive knock-out format that provides a full day’s play for each player with each team ultimately gaining a final ranking position in the field of twenty-four teams.

The best match of the day was in the semi-final round. Abdul Sports were up against fourth seeds Fellows Cranleigh and the East London team scared the second seeds all the way despite eventually losing 2-0. They led 2-0 in both matches and it took two tremendous comebacks for Abdul Sports to progress. The noisy Wuraola eventually defeated plucky Emran Hussain 8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9 and then Stokes got the better, just, of Zayd Mauthoor 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8. Stirring stuff!

In the other semi-final Ware and Butler successfully fought off the challenge from Blaenafon Aces with two wins both 3-1. Ware beat Patrick Thomas and Butler beat Lewis Williams to end the run of the impressive Welsh youngsters who had been seeded only eighth.

The best local performance came from The Shawmeisters, featuring brothers Ashley and Oliver Shaw. They took full advantage of the absence of third seeds Frenford Club to get into the top eight.

The tournament was organized and refereed by Graham Trimming and attracted a maximum entry of 24 teams.

Results

Pos	Team	Players
1	Ware’s the Butler?	Matt Ware (Ha) & Mark Butler (Do)
2	Abdul Sports & Table Tennis Ltd	Abdul Wuraola (Sy) & Ashley Stokes (Mi)
3	Fellows Cranleigh	Emran Hussain (E) & Zayd Mauthoor (E)
4	Blaenafon Aces	Patrick Thomas (WAL) & Lewis Williams (WAL)