Archway, eBaTT and the hosts were the big winners this weekend in Edgware at the November Butterfly London Academy 2 Star Open.

The tournament saw seven competitions ranging from Under-11s to Seniors.

Senior Mixed

An expanded field saw 35 players compete on Saturday, with Lok Yee Lo taking the gold medal, beating eBaTT’s Sammy Kaye in a high quality and hard-fought final.

Under-19 Mixed

In the Under-19 Mixed event, eBaTT went one better when top seed Ben Levi won the title, by beating third seed Nilay Balaji in the final. Ben’s relentless attacking proved too much on the day despite a determined defence from his opponent.

In the semi-finals, Levi needed four sets to beat Kwun Yin Ng (11-6, 10-12, 14-12, 11-7), whereas Balaji reached the final with a straight-sets over second seed, Marcus Behranu (11-9, 13-11, 11-8).

London Academy’s Alisha Dutta was the best of the Under-19 female entries on the day, reaching the last 16, before going out in five sets to Stanmore’s Raman Mandair (6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5).

Under-15 Girls

A reduced field in the Under-15 girls meant that the competition was played out in a single division. The Gold was taken by Chi Yin (Gianna) Pang. She sealed the top spot with six wins to zero losses, beating the top seed Soraya-Rahmani Walentynska (12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-8). Stanmore’s Maahi Malde took third place with four wins out of six.

Under-15 Boys

Sunday saw Yacoub Rahmani-Walentynski take gold in the Under-15 Boys, with a three sets victory over Elkanah Gordon from Greenhouse in the final match (11-7, 11-5, 11-4).

Both finalists had to make their way past London Academy opponents in the semi-finals. Elkanah beat Adam Riadi in four sets (11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 11-2), whereas Yacoub overcame his regular sparring partner, Stefan Pop (6-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-8).

The medals were presented by Max Radiven, who took some time out of his busy international schedule to inspire the Under-15s.

Under-13 Girls

Our lowest entry of the season in the U13 girls meant that the competition was also comprised of a single group of six players.

Assil Sarri lived up to her top seeding with five wins out of five to take the gold. After a three-way countback for second place, Serene Rahmani-Walentynska took the silver and Ruby Gandi Bamidele took third place.

Under-13 Boys

The loss of top seed Zach Sarri to illness opened the field somewhat in the Under-13 Boys competition.

The final came down to Caleb Tsang versus Arjun Anchan. The boys had already met in their group, with Arjun coming out on top in four set. This time Caleb won a hugely competitive match which went to five sets (15-13, 12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7). Caleb had a straight sets win over Chelmsford’s Joshua Freeman (11-2, 11-9, 11-8), whereas Arjun needed all five sets and had to come from behind to beat this brother Anirudh in the other semi-final (12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8).

Under-11 Mixed

After trying out the Hybrid competition format we have returned to the double group system for the Under-11s.

In the afternoon’s championship division, it was Archway who took gold and silver with Jayden Xuan Chen beating Cindy Xiao in the final match of the day to take gold. Cindy’s three wins meant she took the silver while the bronze was taken by Cleeve Park’s Daniel Pavia. Daniel clinched his medal in a tough five-setter against Fox’s Lev Samurov.

The Under-11 Consolation division was won by London Academy’s Nicholas Andrei, with Bethany Yang taking the silver and Daniyal Janohamed securing the bronze.

Congratulations to everyone who took part. London Academy will host their final Open 2 Star of 2024 on the weekend of December 14-15th.