Local Girls Shine at Junior Tournament
The Prince Newcastle Northern Junior Squash Open, sponsored by Sport Newcastle, was held recently at Northern Squash Club in Gosforth, Newcastle.
The fantastic entry of 120 juniors included entrants who had travelled from as far as Derbyshire, Lancashire and even Surrey.
Local boys had some encouraging results with Michael Mattimore (Northern) finishing runner up to Oliver Walls (Cleveland) in the mixed Under 11 event. In the Boys’ U13 event Chris Wiggins (Alnwick) was runner up to the number one seed, Joe Dale (Cleveland).
In the finals of the Boys’ U15 Luke Mabbott (Durham) beat Edward Stallworthy (Yorkshire) and in the U17 Russell Clark (Derbyshire) beat Tom Lee (Yorkshire).
Local boys did well in the plate finals with David Home (Northern) losing to Carlton Oldham (Lancashire) at U13, Harry Steward (Hexham) beating Andrew Walsh (Tynemouth) at U15 and Barney Wareing (Jesmond) beating Owen Barrett (Cumbria) in the U17 event.
But it was in the Girls’ events where local players excelled. At U13 Charlotte Cooper (Jesmond) beat Laura Neil (Jesmond), Caitlin Vitty (Northern) beat Harriet Speed (Hexham) in the U15, and Samantha Ward (Tynemouth) beat Maria Bainbridge (Jesmond) in the U17 event.
There was success in the plate finals too when Erin Vitty (Northern) lost to Zoe Kaiser (Humberside), Sophie Noble (Northern) beat Lucie Carr (Tynemouth) and Rebecca Symmons (Jesmond) beat Beth Robertson (Northern).
Tournament organiser Richard Vitty said “The sponsorship by Prince and Sport Newcastle ensured a top class entry and the addition of a free goodie bag with contributions from local suppliers Sainsburys, Mill Garages, Group 4 and Northumbria Constabulary helped to make it a very successful event”.
A recent drive to hold more junior squash tournaments in the northern region is now reaping rewards as local youngsters are benefitting from more opportunities to gain competition experience. An increasing number of Northumbria juniors now hold national ranking positions and successfully compete in regional and national tournaments.
Anyone requiring further information about the Newcastle event or junior squash in general can ring Richard Vitty on 0191 2859712.
