Ollie Green, Aaron Allpress and Alice Green were the most successful Essex players at last weekend’s Dutch Junior Open in Amsterdam.
T
he county sent a sizeable squad (some pictured above) to the popular event, which attracts entries from all over the world. Ollie (right), who plays at Club Kingswood, performed brillianly to reach the semi-finals of the under-13’s before falling to Canada’s 3/4 seed Dylan Deverill. In a humdinger of a match, Ollie lost the first game, took a 2-1 lead and was only shaded to the victory by Deverill taking the fifth game 11-9.
His coach, Paul Selby, was in Ollie’s corner throughout the tournament. “It was a fabulous effort by Ollie. He left everything out on the court and played superbly. You can’t ask more than that,” said Paul.
Ollie returned to the court a short while later to secure third place thanks to a 3-0 win against Turkey’s Emirhan Sen.
Lexden’s Aaron looked in good nick in the early rounds of the U-17’s taking out players from England and the Ukraine without dropping a game. His third round clash with Ireland international Scott Gillanders proved to be a much tougher affair. Like Ollie, The Essex player surrendered the opening game before going on to take a 2-1 lead.
Aaron (left) lost the fourth setting up a thrilling decider, which he claimed in gripping fashion winning 13-11 to seal a place in the quarters. The effort put in during that match took its toll and Aaron went down 3-0 in the last right match against USA’s Charles Culhane.
However, he still had enough in the bag to finish of the the Monrad tournament in sixth spot.
Ollie’s sister Alice Green (right) also made the quarters of the U-15’s before losing to number one seed and eventual winner, Marina Stefanoni from the USA. Earlier, Alice enjoyed wins over America’s Ella Lungstrum and England’s Lily Taylor-French. She also secured further wins over Layna Beattie (Wales) and Ireland’s Ellie McVeigh to finish fifth.
WINNERS:
B13: [5/8] Sam Todd (Eng) 3-0 [¾] Dylan Deverill (Cam) 11/8, 11/1, 11/4
G13: [5/8] Jana Safy (Egy) 3-0 [¾] Lucie Stefanoni (Usa) 11/3, 11/9, 11/3
B15: [17/24] Tushar Shahani (Ind) 3-1 Oscar Beach (Eng) 9/11, 11/7, 11/2, 11/2
G15: [1] Marina Stefanoni (Usa) 3-0 [2] Navmi Shama (Ind) 11/8, 11/5, 11/8
B17: Hisham Fansa (Egy) 3-2 Tom Walsh (Eng) 11/8, 11/6, 8/11, 8/11, 11/7
G17: Jasmine Hutton (Eng) 3-1 Lucy Turmel (Eng) 12/10, 7/11, 11/6, 13/11
B19: 9/12] Patrick Rooney (Eng) 3-1 [5/8] Mostafa Hany Ismael (Egy) 10/12, 11/9, 11/4, 11/5
G19: [1] Georgina Kennery (Eng) 3-1 [2] Tinne Gilis (Bel) 10/12, 11/7, 11/9, 11/3