Benji Batten (AUS/Melbourne TFC) claimed the 2025 Louis Micaleff Memorial Open in Sydney.
A FISTF Satellite, the event featured 18 players, including Batten and Beth Eveleigh (AUS/Northern Phoenix) from Melbourne and Nick Brill (AUS/Tumbleweeds) from Canberra.
It was also staged using the Swiss format, which guaranteed every player 5 matches.
Most agreed that while it was satisfying to play that many games, it was a tough day’s play.
Additionally, the Australian association nominated that the event would test run the proposed new Rule 1.1 regarding flicking.
Round one had no real surprises, with maybe the only one being Franck Cozzarin (AUS/Tumbleweeds) pipping his clubmate Adrian Elmer 2-0.
The biggest surprise came in round 2 when Franck beat Eliot Kennedy (AUS/Northern Falcons) 2-0, while Batten outlasted Brill 3-2 in a drama filled match.
In round 3, Kennedy bounced back to beat Steve Dettre (AUS/Northern Falcons) 2-0, while Batten began his move on the title with a 3-2 win against Cozzarin.
Kennedy’s title aspirations disappeared with a 1-0 loss to Elmer, while Adrian Grunbach’s (AUS/Northern Falcons) 0-0 draw with Batten threw the title chase open, and Cozzarin’s cause was hampered by a similar 0-0 result against Brill.
Into the last round, Grunbach faced Tim Phokos — either of whom would win the tournament if they won and Batten and Elmer drew. The winner of Batten and Elmer was guaranteed the tournament win if it wasn’t a draw.
Phokos (AUS/Tumbleweeds) was the only U20 player in the event and had quietly worked his way into title contention with some solid results: 2-0 win against ‘Little Steve’ Diasinos (AUS/Tumbleweeds), a 1-1 with Jonty Brener (AUS/Northern Falcons) and then a 2-0 win against Eveleigh. A hiccup 1-1 with Ray Micaleff proved to be costly.
In the end, Batten took a comfortable 4-0 win to claim top spot, while Grunbach was held 0-0 by Phokos to come second, with Elmer ahead of Kennedy despite Kennedy’s barnstorming 5-0 win against Brill.
Notably during the day, players made valiant attempts to conform to the new FISTF flicking rule, with the number of “air flicks” and “pull flicks” significantly reduced, and even in some cases players ‘self regulating’ and admitting to foul defensive flicks.
A huge word of thanks to Ray Micaleff for hosting the event at his magnificent gym at Bella Vista, and to he and his brother Vince for allowing the event to be dedicated to their late father, Louis.
