THE under 13s and under 17s Junior Squash championships sponsored by Microgaming were held at the NSC, Douglas, on Sunday (December 12).
U13s
In the mixed competition the first two rounds went according to seeding with the closest match being Peter Baker (3) against Ben Peach (6) which Baker won 11-7, 11-8.
Peach went on to win the plate competition. In the semi-finals, Baker was beaten 11-5 11-9 by Hannah Dixon (2).
The other semi-final saw Dewald Joubert (1) squeeze past Edward Batty (4) 14-12, 11-9. Baker and Batty then went onto to play the match of the tournament for third and fourth places.
Batty took the first 11-2 but Baker responded by winning the second 11-4. The third game was close all the way with Baker eventually taking it on his second match point 12-10.
Dixon, who had already beaten Laura Dickinson to win the Girls competition, upset the rankings by beating Joubert 2-0 in games in the final to walk away with two winners trophies.
U17s
As with the U13s the first round went with the seedings as did the second apart from Patrick Fitzpatrick (5) overcoming Liam Dixon (4) 15-11.
This put Fitzpatrick up against No 1 seed Thom Whiteway. Fitzpatrick, who has another three years in this age group, put up a brave display but Whiteway won 15-9.
In the other semi-final Liam Quinn (3) upset the seedings by beating Alex Maitland (2) 15-6.
Meanwhile in the plate competition the players were split into three groups.
The group winners were Richard Creer, Peter Naylor and Matthew Gardner. Oscar Hill (28 points) just qualified for the semi-finals ahead of Sam Wilson (26) as the best runner-up.
Hill then beat Creer 15-12 and Gardner beat Naylor 15-9 before going on to beat Hill 15-11 in an entertaining plate final.
In the main competition Alex Maitland beat Patrick Fitzpatrick in two close games 11-9, 11-8.
Thom Whiteway then took on Liam Quinn in the final. Whiteway, who was strong favourite, took the first game relatively easily 11-4 despite some incredibly long rallies and excellent retrieving from Quinn.
Whiteway then seemed to relax a bit too much and Quinn went ahead in the second and, helped by some excellent winners, took the second 11-8.
Normal service was resumed in the third though with Whiteway running out the winner 11-2.
The standard of squash displayed by both players was quite breathtaking as witnessed by some of the "oohs" and "ahhs" from the watching U13s.
In the U17 Girls final Katherine Picken played Courtney Gilardoni. The first two games were mirrors of each other with Picken taking the first and Gilardoni the second. In the third Gilardoni established a lead but Picken pegged her back.
Still, with Gilardoni serving at 9-8, it looked like she would shade it but Picken took three points in a row to win it 11-9.
Ashley Sykes from Microgaming presented the trophies to the winners and the Isle of Man Squash Rackets Association would like to thank Microgaming for its support of all the junior championships this season.
For more information and full match reports visit: www.iomsra.com
