British Junior Championships 2016: Round 1 & 2 highlights

Day one of the British Junior Championships 2016 saw the best of British battling it out for a spot in the quarter finals.

Hampshire’s Kyle Finch justified his top seeding in the BU19, despite a slow start, beating 9/16 seed Yusef Forster (Yorkshire) 11/8, 11/0 and 11/5. Meanwhile, Oliver Harris, the 5/8 seed from Cheshire, was forced to retire during his match with 9/16 seed Curtis Malik (Sussex) due to injury.

The GU19s went according to seed with impressive displays from Yorkshire duo Charlotte Jagger (5/8) and Gabrielle Mawson (5/8) leaving top seed Lucy Turmell with some stern competition in the quarter finals.

The biggest upset in the BU17’s came when Jared Carter (9/16) defeated the No.2 Alasdair Prott (Scotland) in a topsy turvy five game thriller (11/6, 9/11, 11/6, 11/7, 11/5) that could have gone either way. Top seed Nick Wall (Yorkshire) wasn’t to suffer the same fate, when he provided an impressive 3-0 victory over fellow Yorkshireman, 9/16 seed Ben Merchant.

The GU17’s went according to seed with No.1 Georgia Adderley (Scotland) being the only player to drop a game in the second round. The biggest upset came when two of the top eight seeds were eliminated by two 9/16 seeds from Warwickshire. The Warwickshire duo of Rosie Kirsch and Lucy Green convincingly dispatched 5/8 seeds Laura Neill (Northamptonshire) and Poppie Jaram (Yorkshire).

In the BU15, there was just one upset in Round 1 when qualifier Sion Evans defeated 9/16 seed Franklyn Smith. In the second round, all top eight seeds eased through to the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, the 2016 Boys Under 13 champion and BU15 top seed Sam Todd sailed through to the quarter’s following two convincing 3-0 victories.

The GU15 first round saw two upsets with two 9/16 seeds, Ellis Miller and Ellie Hewes being knocked out by Amy Pullen and Amelia Leslie respectively. The second round results all went to seed bar Darcie Mounter (9/16) who defeated 5/8 seed Amber Copley.

In the BU13, all seeds progressed through to the second round except 9/16 seeds Abd-Allah Eissa and Usman Alli, who were knocked out by qualifier Tom Walsh and unseeded Jack Whitfield respectively. The second round went according to seed except for Daniel Neill (5/8) who was knocked out by 9/16 seed Huzaifan Ali.

In the GU13, there was one upset with 9/16 seed Aliza Sheikh dispatching 5/8 seed Jasmine Tranter.

128 young athletes will now compete in Saturday’s quarter finals.

Visit the official website at englandsquash.com/bjc to view the order of play.