Essex players grabbed six of the 11 trophies up for grabs at last weekend’s Redbridge Junior Open organised by coach Dave Lazarus.
County under-13 champion Ellie Hewes (above), from Colchester, has been in a rich vein of form this season and she secured more silverware by winning the RJO Under-15 trophy beating Surrey’s Natalie Chak. Ellie, who also won the Norfolk Junior Open recently, came through the round-robin format which also featured Eleonor White, Chloe Spratt (Herts), Paige McCoy and Amy Aspinall.
Mikey Tallentire, fresh from his exhibition match with four-times world champion Amr Shabana two weeks ago, had to settle for runners-up spot in the boys’ Under-11’s but his performance against Poland’s Jakub Wodiwodski augers well for next month’s national Under-11’s.
T
he girls’ Under-17’s featured two of the county’s brightest prospects, England Under-15 number one Elise Lazarus (left) and England international Alice Green. After competing in the round robin against Amber Marshall and Megan Yeoman, Alice and Elise pitted their skills against one another in an entertaining shoot-out with the more experienced Elise taking the spoils 11/6 11/7 11/3. Alice will take comfort though from her win over Amber, a notable scalp.
Timmy ‘Streaky’ Bacon (right), who won at Berkhamsted two weeks ago, maintained his form taking the Under-13 boys beating Ben Harrison from Middlesex 3-1. Sadly, Essex Under-13 champ Ollie Green had to pull out injured before the semi, giving Ben a walkover.
Essex’s Mikayla Mann was in strong company in the girls’ under-11’s where she finished a credible third. The spoils went to Torrie Malik from Sussex who is current number one in the country and hot favourite for next month’s Under-11’s nationals.
Kingswood’s Joe Blackmur secured runner-up position in the boys’ under-17’s bowing to Alexander Engstrom (Middlesex) in the final.
RESULTS:
U11 boys Jakub Wodiwodski (Poland) bt Michael Tallentire (Essex) 3-2
U11 boys Plate Zaid Mushtaq (Essex) bt Bailey Malik (Sussex) 3-2
