REPORT BY DAVID HARRIS
Lexden Squash Club staged round two of the Essex Junior Squash Grand Prix series on Sunday, an event designed to provide competition for the next generation of young players.
Aimed at youngsters who have yet to wear county colours, the Grand Prix competition will be staged over six months at five different venues with points from each event counting towards an overall total.
An increase in entrants for GP2 meant the schedule was due to run from 10:00 through to 16:00. As ever, pro-active management by the EJS Committee meant all games were completed earlier than scheduled.
The level of enthusiasm and the closeness of the games was reflected in the scores with over a third of the matches finishing 3-2.
The girls’ Year 10 and Under was a very competitive affair with four girls from Woodford Wells, Mary Kate Lavery, Isabelle Locke, Anna Bantock and Catherine Lilyanagama battling it out for the GP win. The girls produced some great competitive squash with Mary-Kate proving to be the dominant player on the day.
In the Boys’ Year 8 and under category the matches were equally competitive with results keeping the group so tight that the final game of the day decided the outcome of this tough category. Joshua Cheadle, Jamie Smith, Oliver Harris and Ross Jordan all fought bravely but the GP win was to be decided between the Woodford Wells duo of Sebastian Waugh and Daniel Caton. Even this game went to the wire with Sebastian clinching the match 11-7, 3-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 and piping his club mate to the category win by a single point.
Our GP1 Club Kingswood winner in Year 10 and under, Adrian Dibattista, was up against stiff opposition for this GP2. Additional entries from Woodford Wells and local OFTWS added to this excellent group of young talent. As expected, the event was of the highest quality. Stephen Barry, Matt Gibson and Erik Shu all contributed to a wonderful series of matches which held the attention of all the parents present throughout the day. In the end Luke Woodridge’s crucial 3-1 win over Erik Shu proved the turning point in the group with the young man from Marconi winning his category by 2 points.
In the Girls’ year 6 and under, Rosie Mortimer backed up her solid second place at Kingswood GP1 with a win here at Lexden. Renitha Srindran and C.Harris provided some entertaining squash between the youngsters. Their smiles, laughter and enthusiasm for the game, was at times, infectious.
GRAND PRIX 2 RESULTS
Girls Year 6 and Under
1st Rosie Mortimer, 2nd Renitha Srindran, 3rd C.Harris.
Boys Year 8 and Under
1st Sebastian Waugh, 2nd Daniel Caton, 3rd Oliver Harris, 4th Ross Jordan, 5th Joshua Cheadle, 6th Jamie Smith.
Girls Year 10 and Under
1st Mary-Kate Lavery, Anna Bantock, Catherine Lilyanagama, 4th Isabelle Lock.
Boys Year 10 and Under
1st Luke Woolridge, 2nd Erik Shu, 3rd Stephen Barry, 4th Adrian Dibattista, 5th Matt Gibson.
GP3 heads off to Bishops Stortford on Sunday 8th March. Entry to the Grand Prix Series is still open. Please visit Essexjuniorsquash.com/grandprix to enter.
