BUDMOUTH D will meet Colliton C in the final of the Handicap Cup after All Saints and Budmouth A were beaten in the semi-finals.

BUDMOUTH D 5 ALL SAINTS 2

All Saints got off to a good start with Weymouth under-13s champion Ben Hannigan, outgunning Budmouth D’s Willl Jolliffe but then Louis McKechnie levelled the tie with a hard-fought victory over Dom Webb.

Webb found the 10-point handicap just a bit too much to overcome but McKechnie played sensibly to force Webb into making errors.

The much-improved Snigdha Maganti then won her first game comfortably against All Saints’ Dan Dadds but the second leg was much closer with Dadds adapting to Maganti’s style of play much better.

However, Dadds eventually lost 21-17 in the decider and Bud-mouth claimed a 2-1 advantage.

The lead was then extended to 3-1 when Jolliffe defeated Webb, but, in the closest game of the night, Dadds overcame a seven-point disadvantage to beat Mc-Kechnie 23-21, 21-18 and reduce Budmouth’s match lead to 3-2.

Maganti’s strong chop shots were too much for Hannigan in match six and then Jolliffe secured his team’s place in the final by beating Dadds 22-20, 21-15 in a thriller.

COLLITON C 5 BUDMOUTH A 4

BUDMOUTH A, the undefeated winners of the Handicap Cup for the past few years, succumbed to a narrow defeat in a thrilling semi-final against Colliton C.

The first match saw Peter Loakes of Colliton beat Sam Millar comfortably but Bud-mouth then responded with a win for Tom Cherry against Andy Ray in a match, which finished 20-22, 19-21 in Cherry’s favour.

Tom’s sister Lily Cherry then had a close encounter with Kath-erine Bundy and edged out her opponent 23-25, 15-21 to give Bud-mouth a 2-1 advantage in the tie.

Loakes and Tom Cherry then locked horns with Loakes coming out on top over three games to put things in the balance at 2-2.

And as the tie ebbed and flowed to four games apiece, the deciding match saw Tom Cherry have a mountain to climb as he gave away an 11-point handicap to Bundy.

In the first game, Cherry managed to overcome the deficit to win 21-18, but eventually the handicap told and Bundy held her nerve to claim the final game and put Colliton into the final against Budmouth D.