Main draw confirmed following thrilling MB Nottingham English Junior Championships opener

The University of Nottingham Sport opened its courts today to England’s finest young squash players, as the 2025 MB Nottingham English Junior Championships (EJC) got under way for the 14th time since its inception.

Proceedings began at the University’s Sports Village with a series of qualifying matches in all but one of the 11 age categories to determine who would join the main draws at the weekend.

Given that those 11 categories permitted top seeds byes into their respective last 16s for Saturday - and that the remaining event involving Mixed Under 9s did not have a qualification stage - major upsets were always likely to be at a relative premium on the opening day. And so it generally proved to be, as most successful qualifiers were from among the higher-ranked players competing for places in the main draws.

The Boys’ U11 competition exemplified this, as Amr Eldaly (Yorkshire), Ben Richards (Kent), Edward Salisbury (Surrey) and James Woodward (Hampshire) all progressed without undue fuss, and for the loss of only a couple of games between them in their collective two rounds of matches.

The U13s category did however, throw up a triumph of some note - with George Ogden (Hertfordshire) making light of a 23-place difference in the BU13 rankings to triumph in straight games (11-9, 13-11, 11-1) over Theo Hobman (Yorkshire). Robbie Carroll (Warwickshire), Huey Lamb (Northumbria) and Toby White-Mitchell (Yorkshire) all emulated Ogden by qualifying.

The Boys’ U15 event saw Oliver Adihetty (Hertfordshire) and Aeden Matamisa (Warwickshire) taken to five games before ultimately prevailing against Ayaan Khan (Buckinghamshire) (8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-1) and Oliver Flett (Hampshire) (11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 6-11, 11-8). But coupling those victories with a straight-games win apiece saw both go through to tomorrow - along with Lucas Askey (Warwickshire) and Euan Thomson (Surrey), who each claimed two matches without conceding a game.

Straight-games successes were the order of the day for Samuel Blumberg (Gloucestershire), Vinayak Chikermane (Warwickshire), William Longman (Buckinghamshire) and Tayo Janum Yahaya (Middlesex) in the U17 event, and for U19 victors Owen Hendricks (Gloucestershire), Charlie Lord, Oliver Tate (both Sussex) and Louie Truman (Lincolnshire).

Eleanor Flett (Hampshire), Gabriella Ibrahim (Warwickshire) and Martha Waterson (Northamptonshire) successfully negotiated the GU11 event, while local competitor Heidi Cosgrove (Nottinghamshire) and Phoebe Dobbin (Hampshire) did so at GU13 level.

There was rather more extensive competition in the dozen-strong GU15 group, from which Aara Chima (Kent), Sophie Harding (Essex), Codie Jeary (Norfolk) and Leeya Patel (Middlesex) qualified - with Jeary fighting back from two-down to edge out Sophie Longman (Buckinghamshire) in five (7-11, 9-11, 15-13, 11-4, 11-8).

And, as things turned out, everyone was a winner in the GU17 and GU19 events - with all entrants making it through to Saturday. Another locally-based player Noor Al-Qamachi (Nottinghamshire), Darcie Blaber (Surrey) and Beth Fisher (Worcestershire) will feature in the former’s main draw, and both Freya Henry (Gloucestershire) and Olivia Keefe (Hampshire) will take their places tomorrow alongside seeds in the most senior category.

For draws and results from today's action, visit the official website.

Round one action gets underway at 10am on Saturday at the University of Nottingham Sport and Nottingham Squash Rackets Club. Watch live streaming from all the all-glass court, and courts 1 and 2 on the official website. You can also follow the event on our official Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.