Glimpses of what might have been

THE Guernsey squad which travelled to the Junior Open at the David Lloyd Centre in Bournemouth gave hints of their ability, but left their coaches slightly disappointed at what might have been. In the under-19 boys' section, Ben Brehaut faced Andy Weedon, an opponent he was more than capable of beating, but he lost in five games, 4-9 in the fifth. An easy straight-games victory followed against Sam Grundy, which put him in the plate final. In a see-saw match he defeated Oliver Foot 3-2.

'Against a weak opponent he could have done better if he had been a bit more focused and had he listened to his coach, Mick Mahy,' said Peter Bridgeman, director of island squash.

'I would like to think that he could have got into the second or third round of the main competition.

'Who has done better, the plate winner or the person who gets into the quarter-finals?' said Bridgeman.

Henry Birch, in the under-17 boys' section, overcame a tough opponent Faizan Nawaz in a draining 40min. 3-0 match. That put him into the quarter-finals, in which Richard Birks, a 5/8 seed, proved too strong, although Birch never gave up.

'Henry did not get going straight away, but he always gives 10 per cent in his matches,' said Bridgeman.

Three Guernsey players competed in the under-15 boys' event and all progressed through the first round.

Russell Moralee beat James O'Carroll 3-0, Nick Appleton defeated Christopher Frost 3-0 and Forrest Tallowin received a walkover.

All then faced seeded players in the second round: Moralee lost 0-3 to Adam Wellstead and Appleton suffered the same fate against Sammy Chambers.

'Nick has been playing for only a year or so and he did pretty well,' said Bridgeman.

'He came through his first-round match with no problem.

'Russell was not originally travelling with the squad, but came along, deserved his win in the first match and will have learned a lot from the experience.'

Tallowin was up against Ali Mehrkar and after a good match in which Forest was ahead in the final game, he finally was out run by his opponent.

Tallowin played Mathew Muckell in the plate competition and again was beaten 3-2 after another long match.

'He played well: he's just come back from having broken his left wrist.'

James Brehaut, 11, was the only representative in the under-13 boys' competition. After disposing of Laurence Bruggeman 9-1, 9-2, 9-4 in the first round, he stormed past Myles Williams 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 in the seocond.

'James then came up against the number-one seed Ewan Davies-Smith.

'After a shaky start when James went 0-2 down, he settled and played the way he can.

'He won a tight third game 10-9, then the fourth 9-5 and was 7-2 up in the fifth but nerves got the better of him and he eventually lost that game 9-7.'

Katie Ozard was drawn against the under-15 girls' number-one seed in the first round and was beaten.

'Katie lost her second match 1-3 and was not as focused as she might have been. She never really got going, though she can play so much better,' said Bridgeman.

Katie Simpson had a walkover in round one of the under-13 girls' event, easily won her second match, but then lost in the semi-final to another Guernsey girl, Natalie Dodd.

Issey Norman-Ross played well to get through the first round, had a walkover in the second but then lost to Joanne Cortez in the semi-finals.

After a first-round bye, Dodd was made to work by a hard-hitting opponent in round two. She beat Simpson 3-0 and then claimed victory in the final against Cortez.

'She was up against a very awkward opponent and she's not a hard hitter - she's very slight,' said Bridgeman.

'It was a great win for her, fully deserved. It was just a bit of a shame the others did not quite play to their potential too.

'I felt that some of our juniors under performed. They have to be hungrier in their sport, not necessarily to be just the best in the island but they need to go away to play to the best of their ability,' said Bridgeman.