Mikayla Mann from Harwich will be carrying the hopes of Essex into next weekend’s English U-11 Championships at Nottingham as our sole representative in the girls’ event.
The 10-year-old, who plays her squash on the courts at Ardleigh Hall and the Essex University, is a 9/16 seed and opens her account against Yorkshire’s Millie O’Toole. If she’s successful, Mikayla, who’ll be wearing her trademark stylish coordinated kit, will go forward to face Jasmine Tranter from Oxford.
Essex has six boys entered for the championships with Lexden’s Joel Braddock the high seed at number five. Joel has a bye in round one and will be pitched against the winner of Harry Morris and Nero Harms.
Connaught coach Dave Webster will be chaperoning two of his young charges, including eight-year-old Yusef Sheikh playing his first tournament. “Yusef has only been playing for a year so this will be great experience for him,” said Dave this week. The second Connaught player is Zaid Mushtaq. “He is 10 and been playing for a year and half,” added Dave. “The event will be great exposure for both lads. It’s for the experience more than anything else.”
Harry Martin, the current Essex Under-11 Open champion, is joined by two other Essex lads in the 17/32 seedings. Michael Tallentire will face James Corrigan of Lancashire in his first round match and then No.1 seed Sam Osborne-Wilde while Max Hyde is drawn against Cambridge’s Thomas Ramsey. Harry gets Ben Haworth in the first round.
We’ll be carrying a full report next week of how the squad performed in Nottingham. They go with all our best wishes.