DAVE Norman has retained the Isle of Man squash championship title after beating his nearest rival Malcolm Levy in the final.

Despite the controversy surrounding the future of squash at Onchan (or because of it), this year’s entry was up on last year, with nearly all the Island’s top players taking part. With a healthy contingent of juniors, as well as several new faces, it all bodes well for the coming season.

This year saw a change of venue for this, the 23rd Trident Trust sponsored Island Open Championship, with the NSC playing host.

After six rounds, over five nights, the final was contested by the two top seeds, Dave Norman and Malcolm Levy, both of whom got to the final without dropping a game. There was healthy turnout to watch these two go head-to-head and the audience was treated to a match of excellent, tactical squash.

Most of the points seemed to be won at the front of the court but not before long rallies as both players sought to get positional advantage over their opponent. Norman was the more successful in the first game, taking it 11-7, and looked to be in control.

The second game was played in the same cat and mouse style, with both men using all of the court to try to gain the upper hand. A run of precision shots saw Levy take a four point lead in the second game and, although Norman got serve back, he couldn’t hold it as Levy extended his lead and took the second game 11-5. Not such a cut and dried match after all.

Levy pulled out a slender lead in the third but this time Norman pegged him back as they reached 8 all. Some more quality shots, plus the odd nick, saw Norman take the game without further reply. The same high standard continued into the fourth game with Norman this time taking an early lead. Levy pulled points back but could not quite get on terms with his opponent as Norman took the game 11-6 and with it the 2010 Open title.

The competition took its toll on Kevin Watterson, who was unable to contest the final round, handing third place to Ashley Sykes. Sykes very sportingly volunteered to share the prize money with Flash. Hamish Thornton beat Paul Barnett for fifth, while Allister Crossley beat highest finishing junior Thom Whiteway.

There were prizes for the head of each group of eight players, with Richard Corlett taking the first of those after his surprise (to some) 3rd round 0-3 defeat at the hands of Whiteway. Corlett headed Rob Smith, recently back from injury, Pete Fergusson, Douglas Jacobsson, Lyndon Cheetham, Chris Corrigan, Pat Russell and competition organiser, Les Callow.

Shaun Callow topped the next group ahead of Gordon Beresford, John Watterson, Dave Griffiths, Chris Cave, Mason McLarney, Mark Stratford and Mark Hotchkiss. The next group was headed by junior Liam Quinn who pipped Phil Shaw to the prize with his 11-10 win in their deciding game. Next was John Coppell and highest finishing lady, Laura Smith, followed by Stuart Highy, Shane Martin, Brian Cowley, who has contested all 23 Trident Trust competitions, and Norman Cowin.

Gary Corlett topped the next group ahead of Ben Atkinson, Lawrence Rea, Chris Moore, Adam Corcoran, Helen Cave, Barry Lawson and Haydn McLarney, another competitor forced out due to injury. John Smith beat Patrick Fitzpatrick to the next prize ahead of James Ramsey, Derek Tootill and Ivor Krastev.

On behalf of previous Open champion Brian Cannell, Thom Whiteway presented a trophy to the player who showed the most commitment and enthusiasm throughout the competition. The well deserved, and popular, winner was Patrick Fitzpatrick, who received a rapturous reception as he stepped up to collect his trophy.

It was left to Open Champion Dave Norman to thank Les Callow and his organising team, in particular Helen Callow, for all their hard work, as well as the NSC for their support and Douglas Golf Club for hosting the presentation.

Norman also paid tribute to his opponents and the other competitors for making the competition so successful and enjoyable and gave special thanks to Trident Trust for their continued, and much appreciated, support for this event.

Report by Derek Tootill