This four day event saw over 300 juniors attempting to reach the finals and be crowned the British Junior Champion.
The Boys U-19 winner, Kyle Finch, came away from the tournament winning the Don Sanderson Trophy in comfortable fashion winning three games to nil.
He was available to give a short interview at the end of the day, where he said “I’m thrilled to win the Don Sanderson trophy. I think I played really well.” He then went on to praise his opponent (Stuart MacGregor) Saying “He’s done really well to get to the final.”
The class on show, from all age groups and genders, was astounding to watch. Many, if not all of these athletes have trained since they could hold a racquet, and their talent shone through, with so many close games and worthy winners.
As England Squash (2016) stated on their website, “This event is one of the biggest domestic junior tournaments on the British circuit.”
The Girls U-19 winner was top seed Lucy Turmel, who won a close game three sets to two… a close call which could have lead to a possible upset.
The Boys U-17 category was won by top seed Nick Wall. In a short interview at the end of his match against Jared Carter, where he justified his trophy by winning his match three-nil comfortably.
During the brief Interview with Nick, he said “It feels great to win. I was happy with all of my performances, especially in the final.” He also looked forward to next year’s tournament, and to getting back to training hard and being part of the event.
Elise Lazarus took the girls U-17 trophy and her fifth British Junior Championship title after a comfortable win against Alice Green, where she took the game three-one, after ending the possibility of a comeback at one-one.
In the Boys Under 15 category, Max Forster edged a win against Adam Goad. Forster had to come from one set down to win the game, and did just that to clinch the BJC title.
Top seeds Katie Maliff and Margot Prow provided a great match for spectators, as 5 extremely close fought sets reflected, with Maliff edging the win against their opponent.
The final two categories of the tournament were the boys and girls under 13’s. This is where Sam Osborne-Wylde won the Boys U-13 trophy in his game against Jonah Bryant, displaying an air of confidence and winning the game 3-1. Regarding the Girls U-13 category, Torrie Malik went from last year’s runner up to British Junior Championship winner as she bested opponent Emma Bartley in a resounding 3-0 win.
With Kyle Finch’s win bring an end to the event, all were awarded their trophies at the ending ceremony which was met with beaming smiles. Next year’s British Junior Championships will take place in Sheffield, where many players will look to either retain or add a trophy to their repertoire.
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