Having last won the Mixed Championships title in 2009, Seb and Charlotta Cooley regained the crown at Eton yesterday with a 2-0 final win over defending champions Howard Wiseman and Dominique Redmond.
Elli Hullis reports:
The 22nd of April saw 17 fine pairs converge on Eton for the 28th Mixed N/national Fives Championships. Representatives from schools, universities and beyond arrived in the hope of a chance to claim the much sought after Wiseman Cup.
Four pool groups played host to several closely contested sets, with the three smaller pools playing two sets to fifteen, and the larger pool playing two sets to twelve. After a couple of difficult decisions on the seeding front, the top four seeds came through top of their groups, with slightly more of a scrap to earn the remaining four places in the quarter finals.
All quarter final matches produced some great fives, with the top seeds determined to fight their way into the semi finals.
The top two seeds proved too strong for their opposition, and came through to meet each other in a cracking final, with some fantastic long rallies and incredible back court retrievals from both Seb and Howard.
While no nonsense was being had in the final for the Championship, the plate final for the Dossi Dish was slightly more relaxed, though competitive nonetheless, with Wendy Carling tackling Will Gibbons to the ground in true 6 Nations fashion in desperation to reach a back court shot – let ball, please.
A great day had by all, with special mention to Seb for doing such a fantastic job organising and taking scores on the day, on his way to taking the title with Charlotta.
Quarter-finals
D.Redmond & H.Wiseman beat E.Mann & A.Theodossi 2-0 (12-8, 12-9)
G.Vuqitrna & G.Campbell beat E.Casey & D.Foster 2-0 (12-10, 12-8)
K.Hird & G.Hoskins beat E.Hullis & A.Bhattacharya 2-0 (12-4, 12-1)
C.Cooley & S.Cooley beat E.Scoones & R.Perrie 2-0 (12-4, 12-6)
Semi-finals
D.Redmond & H.Wiseman beat G.Vuqitrna & G.Campbell 2-0 (12-5, 15-11)
C.Cooley & S.Cooley beat K.Hird & G.Hoskins 2-0 (12-6, 12-5)
Final
C.Cooley & S.Cooley beat D.Redmond & H.Wiseman 2-0 (12-6, 12-6)
Plate Final for the Dossi Dish
A.Griffiths & W.Gibbons beat W.Carling & C.Wheeler