Our 1st Boys and Girls took part in the annual Selborne and Clarendon Singles and Mixed Doubles Tournament from the 3rd to the 4th of March in East London.

The tournament consists of two pools where each is involved in a round robin, followed by two play-off matches to determine the overall position of each team.

Each round involves 12 singles matches and 6 mixed doubles matches. A team receives 2 points for each match win and 0 points for a loss, unless it went into a tie-break which awards 1 point to the losing team.

Kingswood was drawn in the pool with Grey/Collegiate, Queens/GHS and the hosts Selborne/Clarendon.

Kingswood faced Grey/Collegiate in the opening round on Friday. The competition was fierce with the boys losing all the singles fixtures despite a fighting for every single point.

Our girls managed to win four of the six singles matches showing lots of determination.

Collegiate/Grey then took five of the six mixed doubles matches, however the matches were close affairs with two ending in tie-breakers. Grey/Collegiate took the round with a 26 points to 12 win.

In the 2nd round we faced Queens/GHS. After a tough first encounter our team picked themselves up and performed well with our boys winning 2 of their 6 singles matches, with one match being lost in a tiebreaker.

Our girls won all their singles matches comfortably, and then our mixed pairs took control and won 5 of the 6 mixed doubles encounter giving Kingswood a 26 points to 12 win in this round.

In the final round-robin round we faced Selborne/Clarendon. Our hosts showed their skill by dominating the singles round winning all the singles matches except one. Selborne/Clarendon finished the round by taking 5 of the 6 mixed doubles encounters for a 32 points to 4 win.

On Saturday the tournament shifted to the two play-off rounds to determine the final positions of the teams. In these rounds the fixture only continues until a winner has been determined on points acquired. Once 19 points has been secured by a team a winner has been determined.

Kingswood faced Merrifield in the 1st play-off round. Our girls performed well in the singles taking 4 of the 6 matches. However, our boys faced stiff competition from their competitors and lost all 6 of their singles matches.

After the singles round Merrifield was leading with 16 points to 8. Once the first three mixed doubles results came in Merrifield had secured the win for the round taking two of the three fixtures for a 20 points to 10 lead. The round was declared in Merrifield’s favour.

In the final play-off round for the 7th and 8th positions in the tournament Kingswood faced Queens/GHS again with the mental advantage having beaten them during the pool round on Friday.

The round started with the mixed doubles falling in Kingswood’s favour winning five of the six encounters for a 10 points to three lead. After three boys and three girls singles fixtures the outcome was determined. The boys won two of the three singles matches and the girls had taken all three of the first singles matches. This provided Kingswood with a 20 points to five win and the 7th position in the tournament.

It was a difficult tournament for our team, but they showed real character and grit, and deserve recognition for their efforts throughout the two days.

Congratulations to Pearson for taking the overall win in 2023.