The Rob Milliner Summer Handicap Tournament came to a dramatic conclusion on
Sunday 1st October with Toby Francis taking the honours in a breath-taking
final against Andy Morris. Starting from 70 points to Andy's 65, Toby took
a little while to find his touch but having done so was able to recover
the deficit and then trade point for point despite furious industry from Andy.
Andy has been a regular on recent finals nights having won the tournament in 2003
and been runner-up in both this and the winter tournament. The crowd were familiar
with his prodigious work-rate and passion which saw him recovering from polishing
the floor with the seat of his pants to continue rallies on several occasions and
twice within the same rally at least once. (Perhaps he should get the contract to
clean the courts.)
Toby, who has recently returned to the club after several years, previously won
the Summer Handicap in 1995 whilst a junior. Having regained his original points
advantage, he eventually won the match by 100 - 94.
In the plate final, Akshay Gulati kept his head to beat Keith Marsh whilst managing
to maintain the starting handicap points difference. Starting from a position of
75 - 60, the final score was 100 - 85.
Congratulations to both Akshay and Toby!