05-Jan:
British interest ends..
Steve Line reports from Sheffield.
British interest in
the Drysdale Cup, the U19 Boys event at the British Junior Open, came to
an end at the semi-final stage this afternoon. Tom
Richards was unable to reproduce
his giant-killing form of yesterday and went down to
Tarek Mohamed Momen, the 17 year
old from Egypt. After levelling the score at 1-1, and having game ball in
third, Richards had continual problems with his shoes and
eye-protector and managed to win only 4 more points, going down 3-1 in 56
minutes.
In the other
semi-final, Chris Simpson
from Guernsey started promisingly against the giant Pakistani,
Basit Ashfaq, winning
the first 9-4. However, the Pakistani's strength and speed then started to
tell and the second seed came through 3-1 in 76 minutes.
In the Girls U19
event, the unseeded Tenille Swartz,
the 18 year old from South Africa, beat the top seed Charlie
De Rycke from Belgium and plays
last year's runner-up Joshna Chinappa
from India in the final tomorrow. Swartz is keen to go on the pro circuit
after she finishes at college next year and could well cause a few
problems for the more established professionals.
Further
evidence of the worldwide spread of the game came in the Girls U17 when
the holder, Annie Au
from Hong Kong, reached her second successive final, beating
Neha Kumar from Canada
3-0 in 31 minutes. Her brother Leo, however, was unable to repeat the
family win; the top seed in the Boy's U15 lost a five game marathon
against Ahmed Osama Hawas
of Egypt.
05-Jan:
Top seed upset..
Steve Line reports from Sheffield.
Tom Richards
of England produced the upset of the tournament by brushing aside top seed
Yasir Butt
of Pakistan in the quarter final of the Boy's U19 by 3 games
to 1. Deceptive front court flicks, devastating cross-court nicks and a
superb reading of the Pakistani's game was too much for the top seed.
British hopes
were further raised in the U19 section as Chris Simpson
from Guernsey won a hard fought 3-2 battle against Chris
Gordon of the US in front of a
full crowd on the show court.
The British
girls did not fare so well, however. The unseeded Tenille Swartz
of S. Africa beat Jenna Gates
of England, seeded 5/8 in the U19's, by 3 games to 1 and
Rachel Willmott, the second seed
in the U17, lost 3-0 to Neha Kumar
of Canada in 27 minutes.
04-Jan:
Top seeds through..
Steve Line reports from Sheffield.
Most of the top seeds came through in
today's play at the Abbeydale (Boys and Girls U19 and U15) and Hallamshire
(Boys and Girls U17 and U13) Clubs in Sheffield where over 450 juniors
from 29 countries are competing in the 2005 British Junior Open.
A notable upset happened in the 2nd
round of the Boy's U19 when the unseeded
Grooss Jeppesen, Denmark, beat
9/16 seed
Faisal Zaman, Pakistan,
in 18 minutes for the loss of 1 point - unfortunately he didn't fare so
well in the next round when he went down 3-0 against
Chris Gordon of the US.
Tarek Momen, the U15
winner in 2003, who has skipped the U17 age-group to be a 9/16 seed in
this year's U19, had a tough battle against
James Wright
of England, eventually coming through in
4 games after losing the first.
28-Dec:
the Egyptians
are coming..
Chris
Nutley previews the world’s premier junior event.
The world’s best junior players are
due in Sheffield to help get the New Year off to a flying start at the
British Junior Open which runs from 2-6 January. This season there will
again be nearly 500 players from almost 30 countries from as far afield as
New Zealand, Japan, Mexico and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Egyptians have entered 54 players
and look like being as strong as ever as they bid to improve on last year’s
haul of four titles. They will be without World Junior Champion Omneya
Abdel Kawy, who has now entered the senior ranks after holding the Girls’
Under 19 title for an unprecedented four years.
However, they do have Ramy Ashour, the
new Men’s World Junior Champion, who will be looking to add the Drysdale Cup
to his collection of trophies.
Pakistan has proved itself to be a
formidable force in junior men’s squash again over recent seasons and will
certainly challenge again for the honours in Sheffield with both 2004
champions, Amir Atlas Khan and Waqar Mehboob, back in action.
With Omneya Kawy now out of age the
Girls’ Under 19 Championship looks like being highly competitive with Joshna
Chinappa (India) and the European Champion Charlie De Ryke (Belgium) likely
to head the seedings.
The English challenge is likely to be
spearheaded by Chris Simpson (Hants) and James Wright (Leics) in the
Drysdale Cup and 6 times National Champion Rachel Willmott (Sussex) in the
Girls’ Under 17s. After her wonderful recent win in the British Under 17
Championships over Rachel Willmott, Deon Saffery (Yorks) will also be hoping
to challenge, as will fellow British U17 Champion Chris Tasker-Grindley (Gloucs).
Once again we can count on the fantastic
support of the Sheffield Events Unit, Hallamshire SC and Abbeydale SC,
without which the event would not be possible. Abbeydale’s all glass show
court proved to be a great setting for last season’s finals and will once
again be the focus of attention on finals day.
The British Junior Open
is part of the ESF Junior Circuit and is now an ESF Gold Event.
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