The South African Junior Team Championships were held in Kimberley from 3rd to 7th January 2015. About 1950 players (208 teams) competed for the medals in 19 different sections, split into different age categories. Western Province dominated the A section of the teams event, winning gold medals in under 8, under 10, under 12, under 14, and a shared gold in under 18. The under 18 gold medals were shared as the teams had identical tie-breaks on match points, game points, direct encounter and Sonneborn-Berger (although I think the latter should have been calculated on game points rather than match points, in which case WP would have finished 2nd). Western Province also got silver medals in under 16 and under 20. The only teams that dented their golden record were Nelson Mandela Bay in under 18, Johannesburg Metro in under 20, and Ethekwini in under 16!
The Ethekwini under 16 A team won gold in the under 16 teams event, winning 6 of their matches and losing one. Western Province and Tshwane also won 6 and lost 1, so first place was decided on game points. Here Ethekwini was declared the winner, thanks largely to a controversial 10-0 sweep of Joburg Metro in the last round. This was because a cellphone rang in the Joburg Metro team manager's bag as the match was drawing to a close, resulting in them losing 10-0 instead of by 6-4. Both WP and Tshwane appealed the result, but this default rule was agreed to at the team manager's meeting before the tournament and applied to several other teams during the event.
Detailed results for all of Ethekwini's teams were as follows:
under 8 A team - 3rd in A section - BRONZE medals
under 10 A team - 3rd in A section - BRONZE medals
under 12 A team - 2nd in A section - SILVER medals
under 12 B team - 3rd in C section - BRONZE medals
under 14 A team - 2nd in A section - SILVER medals
under 14 B team - 1st in C section - GOLD medals and promotion
under 16 A team - 1st in A section - GOLD medals
under 16 B team - 1st in C section - GOLD medals and promotion
under 18 A team - 5th in A section
under 20 A team - 6th in A section
The official website for the event has a good selection of photos. Here are a couple of the Ethekwini players, from round 3 of the teams event:
I would like to publish more photos, but have not received any from the Ethekwini team managers!
