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Power and Peewee Battle for B Champ
August 26th
No one was surprised to see Power Babb and Peewee Castro battle it out for the championship of St Albans Handball Association B Singles tournament. Although both have emerged as top players in recent open handball events, the local handball organizations and the "B level" players themselves have ruled that they should be allowed to play out the rest of this year under the B category. It shows a generous spirit within the sport, but the result has been that one of two guys ends up winning practically every B competition. This time it was Power taking the prize with a 25-20 win.
With close to 50 entries, the tournament did hold some surprises. Most notably, 16 year old Shaheem Nelson beat Tyrone Snell 21-14. Tyrone, an A level player had asked to be allowed in to the tournament and was supported by the players. Tyrone "guaranteed a victory," or at least a finals appearance. It was therefore an embarrassing loss.
However, no one should underestimate Shaheem. Last month, he defeated the best young players in the game to take both the 16 and under and the 19 and under USHA/ICHA Junior Big Blue Championship. Watching the youngster's rapidly improving game, Dwight Worley SAHA president remarked "Shaheem is mature for his age, very grounded and seems to have his head screwed on straight. With his talent I think that in as little as two years he will be one of the top 5 players in the sport."
Shaheem was defeated by Dennis Budroo in the semi-finals. However, the intense 21-19 match left Dennis totally spent. With darkness coming in, he was given only 5 minutes rest before a match with Power and had to default. Peewee beat Joe Thompson 21-12 to reach the final match.
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