THE Newton Abbot Open Graded tournament on February 14 attracted two Bude Strikers.

Veronica Munks (12) entered the C Grade, which was a Monrad competition. All her opponents were boys. Veronica had some patches of very good play and in one of those managed to win one of her matches. Although never outclassed, Veronica lacked consistency in her other 3 matches, which she lost.

Her final position was 12th out of 23.

Sam Fanson (14) entered the B Grade, which was organised on a box system.

His first two matches, and the fourth, were relatively easy as Sam covered the court well and played accurate shots. The third match was tighter, but Sam remained calm when it mattered, and won the box with 12 points.

In the semi-final Sam won the first game comfortably, but allowed too many unforced errors to creep into his second game and lost it 10/11. In the third game Sam concentrated on playing more accurate shots and won his place in the final.

Despite being fairly tired from the previous five matches, Sam played confidently and continued to run well and get virtually everything back.

Without too much trouble Sam took the final 2/0 to win his first tournament trophy. This was a really good result for him and well deserved after all the skills practice and fitness work that he has put in.

Both players now need to raise their aspirations and gain more match experience.