Matt Shaw wins the Plate at the National Singles

National Singles Championship
St. Paul’s School, 3-4 December 2016

Three players from Cambridge qualified for the final rounds of this year’s National Singles Championship: Ed Kay, by virtue of his national ranking, plus Ben Beltrami and Matt Shaw who played in the qualifying round at Cambridge in November.

At the finals Ed Kay and Ben Beltrami advanced to the quarter-finals with wins over Peter Hanton and John Minta respectively. There Ed beat Ben 15-12,15-2, a repeat of the recent final of the Universities Singles Championship. Ed then lost his semi-final against defending champion Will Ellison.

Matt Shaw meanwhile lost a lengthy first-round battle with Julian Aquilina 15-2, 13-15, 15-13. He then met and beat John Minta and Theo Parker in his round-robin Plate matches, before defeating ‘reigning Plate champion’ Ollie Arnold in the Plate final 15-4, 15-4 to win the ‘longboat’ trophy.

And reigning National Doubles champion Charlie Brooks beat number 3 seed Dan Grant in the quarter-final by 15-10, 4-15, 16-15 to reach his first semi-final in this national event. The photo below tells the story!

Charlie Brooks beats an exhausted Dan Grant in three games!

Matt Shaw, winner of the Plate at the National Singles