Herts Junior Open Squash 2004 Report

This years event was held at the recently refurbished Bishop’s Stortford Squash Club and was a big success thanks to the support of the Hertfordshire Senior and Junior Sections, SABRE squash equipment for the prizes and PELLYS Solicitors (from Bishop’s Stortford) for providing the squash balls.

There were over 70 entrants, 13 of which were Nationally ranked.

The Boys Under 15 tournament was the first to get underway and the draw boasted the entry of current British Junior Champion Adrian WALLER (Herts).

This made Adrian the clear favourite so the race was on to see who would play him in the Final. Bishop’s Stortford’s Oliver DIXON fought through to play number 2 seed Stephen WYKES (Sussex) in the semi-final and in a tight and tense match Oliver won 10/8 in the fourth game.

Adrian beat a game Daniel PICKETT (Oxon) in the other semi-final after Daniel had played steadily in the Quarter-Final to knock out Adam WELLSTEAD (Bucks).

In the Final Adrian showed the partisan Stortford crowd why he is the British champion by putting on an exhibition of squash showing no mercy in beating Oliver for the loss of two points.

The Plate Final was won by Daniel SCIBERRAS (Herts) who beat Michael AH-CHUNG (Essex) 3-1.

The Girls Under 15 event was spoilt by a late withdrawal but this didn’t dampen the competitive spirit of the players. Lucie COLT (Middlesex) ran out as winner with Katherine QUARTERMAN (Oxon) coming second and Beth JOHN (Oxon) third.

The Boys Under 13 boasted a very strong field with Ben RODGERS (Devon) as number 1 seed. Unfortunately Ben had to withdraw in his semi-final whilst 2-1 down with a hamstring injury against unseeded Ben LAMPON (Essex) who had earlier impressively defeated 5/8 seed Peter DICKINSON (Cambs) and number 4 seed Daniel McGINN (Cambs).

In the bottom half of the draw Sammy CHAMBERS (Cambs) quietly progressed defeating Tim DIXON (Herts) and Hadley NEALE (Sussex), Hadley had earlier put out number 2 seed Lewis WOOD (Oxon) for the loss of 8 points.

The Final between CHMBERS and LAMPON promised much and the crowd were not disappointed and were treated to some excellent squash.

Sammy never allowed Ben to settle and played some clinical lengths to the back of court keeping Ben away from the T. Ben rallied briefly in the third but it was too late and Sammy won 9/4 9/4 10/8.

Peter DICKINSON (Cambs) won the Plate Final beating Phil WALLER (Herts) 3-0.

The girls under 13 competition was again hit with a late withdrawal, Harriet INGHAM (Surrey) battled through to beat Sophie LEMOM (Essex) who came second and Georgie INGHAM (Surrey) who came third.

There were 18 entrants for the Mixed Under 11 event creating four groups, two of four players and two of five.

The youngest competitor was Harry GREEN (Herts) aged 7.

The winners of each group played in the semi-finals. They were Oliver HORTON (Essex), Matthew MULLEN (Essex), Nicholas MULVEY (Herts) and Michael FULLER (Surrey).

Oliver and Matthew won through and in a high standard Final Oliver won 3-0.

Herts Junior Committee Chairman Ray WALLER who along with five others over the weekend attended a referee’s course and passed the exam to become a ‘County’ grade referee made presentations of certificates, trophies and prizes to the Finalists.

Many thanks to ENGLAND SQUASH who provided this course for free.

Bishop’s Stortford Squash Club Manager and Tournament Organiser Jason FOSTER was very impressed with the standard of squash and also very pleased with the conduct of the Junior players and support of the parents who helped in making sure the tournament ran to schedule.

Special mention must be made to two matches of the tournament which involved Nicholas MULVEY (Herts) coming back from 2-0 to beat James BARBETT (Herts) 8/10 8/10 10/8 10/8 9/5 in a Mixed Under 11 match and to Michael AH-CHUNG (Essex) who completed a similar comeback against Paul VAS NUNES (Essex) 8/10 7/9 9/6 10/9 9/7 in the Boys Under 15 Plate.