Young Scots talent compete at Junior Gold’s over action packed weekend

Over fifty boys and girls representing the next generation of Scotland’s squash talent competed over two days at the Junior Gold Tournament at the Aberdeen Squash and Racketball Club over the weekend.

Highlights included a convincing win for Bridge Of Allan’s own Kyle Penman in the Boys U19 category, beating Peter Macari 11-2, 11-9, 11-4, Thomas Clark 11-3, 11-3, 11-9 and Maciej Meszka
11-5, 11-4, 11-6, along the way.

In the girls U19, second seed Anna Halliday beat top seed and rival Robyn McAlpine in a pulsating five game thriller to decide the group. Having lost the opening game 11-1, Anna stormed back winning the next two games 7-11, 1-11 before Robyn forced a fifth game decider. After an epic tussle, Anna finally won the match, beating Robyn 9-11 and capping off one of the tournament’s best matches.

In the boys U15 category, top seed John Green from Edinburgh received a BYE in his first round before storming into the final, beating Alexander Dudley 11-2, 11-6, 11-2 and Murdo Mackenzie 11-9, 11-3, 11-3. In the final he met Archie Niven from Glasgow, who put on a battling display in a superb five-game match which John finally won 8-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7.

Top seed Anna Halliday won the girls U17 category in convincing fashion, beating Ella Bannister, Anna Mcgouldrick and Lily Craig Gould in straight games, while in the boys U17 group, Dylan Pearman won 9 out of his 10 games, beating Christopher Horsburgh, Jamie Cargill and Ammar Alakrat to win the title.

Some great squash was also on display across the younger groups, with the prolific Omar Farag from Glasgow winning all his games on his way to the boys U11 title, including wins against number one seed Ben Saldanha 5-11, 3-11, 9-11 and the number two seed Andrew Ross 2-11, 1-11, 5-11.

In the girls U13,the draw went true to form, with the talented top seed Phoebe Hamilton from Haddington winning all 12 of her games in emphatic fashion, beating Jessica Craig-Gould 11-1, 11-0, 11-0, Skye Macleod 11-0, 11-1, 11-0 and Eilidh Young 11-1, 11-0, 11-1.

Joseph Ewen, the Junior Gold tournament organiser said: “It’s been a difficult period for competitive squash, with lockdowns disrupting tournaments and training programmes. So, it brought us great pleasure to host the Junior Gold’s again at the Aberdeen Squash and Racketball Club over the weekend. This historic tournament is an important showcase for our up-and-coming talent, with young players from across the country coming together to compete and show what they can do. This year saw some first class displays from our U11 to U19 girls and boys. There were some true stars of the future on display whose skill and determination are a credit to our sport.”

A full list of the draw and results can be found here https://bit.ly/3B4JMwL