Great win for Zaid at the Cumberland Club

Rising Connaught player Zaid Mushtaq overcame an early reverse at The Cumberland Club in London at the weekend to claim the best tournament win of his young career.

The bubbly 10-year-old, another product of the Dave Webster school of coaching at Connaught, in Chingford, lifted the U-11 title and was a picture of joy as he received his trophy from former world No,10 player Zubair Khan (right).

Zaid, ranked 47 in England, took out Imran Musa 3-0 then defeated Jack Whitfield, who is ranked 38 in England, 3-1.

That set up an intriguing final against number one seed, Hugo Andersson, ranked 25 in England. The Essex lad lost game one after a tough battle, but came roaring back to win the next three. Key to his comeback were the words of coach Webster: Never, never give up.

Zaid competed in the Charing Cross Junior Open last weekend and produced another fine display finishing runner up to Max Tunnon. After a routine 2-0 win over Antione Pucelle, Zaid had a real battle on his hands against James Carmen. At one game all and trailing 10-5 in the decider, the match looked beyond Zaid. But a magnificent comeback saw the Essex boy save five match balls before winning to huge applause from the crowd.

Unfortunately, that effort drained Zaid’s energy reserves and he wasn’t able to repeat the performance against eventual winner Tunnon. Zaid was presented with his runners-up trophy by Ben Ford (below)

Webster, meanwhile, took a squad of players from Essex and Kent to the Dutch Junior Open in Amsterdam.

Jags Sehmbi from Redbridge was hampered by a hamstring injury but still managed 19th place in the U-19s, including an impressive opening round victory. Tom Smith-Evans from Colchester was 42nd and Ongar’s Richard Horswill  50th. Brentwood’s Rob Pearson was 74th in the U-17’s.

Elsewhere, it has been another productive few weeks for Billericay’s Alice Green. The 13-year-old has bagged two U-17 titles winning at both Surrey Sports Park and Limpsfield.