Junior County Closed 2008

JUNIOR COUNTY CLOSED 2008

The junior county closed took place over weekend of the 27th and 28th of September at the Northumberland club in Jesmond. With 88 entries over 10 events from under 9’s to under 19’s.

BOYS U19 – Richard Shellam bt Dave Elsender 3-0
plate – Matthew Hardy bt Chris Clinton 3-0

Richard Shellam lived up to his number 1 seed and did so very emphatically. Despite losing his first game of the event to Chris Clinton he never looked back beating Dave Elsender of Westoe in the final convincingly to defend his title he won last year.

GIRLS U19 – Kim Hay bt Hannah Cliff 3-0

With only 2 entrants there was a straight final for this event. Hay was favourite and played well to take the vicory despite a close 2nd game when Cliff played very well only narrowly losing out.

BOYS U17 – Harry Carr bt Sean Millington 3-2
plate – Luke Adair bt Barney Wareing 3-0

This event was full of upsets and very close matches. Number one seed Christian Beck was beaten in his first match 3-0 by Dean Follin opening the event wide open. Also ¾ seed David Breakey was unexpectedly beaten in the quarter final by Andrew Howes, Howes then went on to push second seed Millington all the way eventually losing out 3-2 and Millington making it o the final. Harry Carr took advantage of the absence of Beck in the top half beating Follin 3-1 in the semi to set up a final match with Millington. The final was nip and tuck with Millington taking the lead 1-0 and 2-1 before being pegged back and beaten by Carr 3-2 in a grueling final.

GIRLS U17 – 1st Kim Hay, 2nd Sam Ward, 3rd Catherine de Kiewiet.

A round robin of 3 in this event with Kim Hay winning both of her games 3-0 to take the title and Sam Ward beating Catherine de Kiewiet into runner-up position.

BOYS U15 – Elliott Park bt James Breakey 3-2
plate – Martyn Hope bt James O’Connell 3-2

I was the top 2 seeds who made it into the final but both ¾ seeds were beaten early with Stephen Twaddle beating Richard Ridgway and Chris Matthewson beating Elliott Carr. Twaddle and Matthewson lost to Breakey and Park wh went on to contest the final. Park seeded 2 started the final well taking the first before Breakey levelled it up, Park again led at 2-1 before again being pegged back. Breakey then led 7-3 in the decider before it was Park’s turn to fight back anf taking the 5th 11-7 and the U15 title.

GIRLS U15 – Lucy Beecroft bt Maria Bainbridge 3-0
plate – Ingrid Sorensen bt Nazia Zahed 3-2
GIRLS U13 – Lucy Beecroft bt Maria Bainbridge 3-2
plate – Stephanie Howes bt Emma Brown 3-0

The U15 and U13 finals were both contested between Lucy Beecroft and Maria Bainbridge. The U13 final was played first and what a match! Beecroft started well and won the first 2 games 11-9. Bainbridge then played some very good squash to level at 2-2 and looking favourite too win. Beecroft however upped her game in the 5th and won the closely fought contest 3-2. The U15 was played an hour and a half later and started where the last final left off with a very close long first game which again went to Beecroft 16-14, this seemed to break Bainbridges resistance and Beecroft won in the end comfortably 30 to become a double champion.

BOYS U13 – Simon Grabham bt Elliott Carr 3-1
plate – Alex Robertson bt Steven Hierons 3-2

It was an all Northern final in the U13 with top 2 seeds making it safely through. Matches between Grabham and Carr are always close and this was no different,Grabham took the first 2 closely before Carr won the 3rd . Carr then had no answer to Grabhams lovely drop shots and Grabham came through to win 3-1.

MIXED U11 – Joe Wareing bt Jamie Todd 3-0
plate – Emma Brown bt Gregor Pearce 3-1

Joe Wareing and Jamie Todd knocked out the top 2 seeds Sam Broughton and Lewis Bartram in the semis. Wareing fresh from winning the U9 event earlier in the day was on a high and beat his older opponent Todd emphatically in the final 3-0 to become a double champion.

MIXED U9 – winner – Joe Wareing

The U9 event was held over a 2 hour period on sunday afternoon with 8 entrants playing a big round robin and as mentioned above Joe Wareing was the winner remaining undefeated in all his 7 games. A big thanks goes to Jane Dennis for organising the U9’s

Thanks to DB GLAZIERS for sponsoring the events t-shirts.