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Harrow Challenger #1: 08-10 June,
Bishops Stortford |
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10-Jun, Final:
[5/8] Adrian Waller bt [1] Neil
Hitchens
11/6, 6/11,
11/9, 7/11, 11/3 (62m)
Waller meets the Harrow challenge
Jason Foster reports
Adrian Waller secured the first of three Harrow Challenger
events to be played in Hertfordshire during the 2007 summer. In a
very competitive match Adrian's superior shot selection and strength
saw him overcome stubborn resistance from Essex player Neil Hitchens.
Adrian's controlled play saw him through to win the first game 11/6,
Neil replied in similar fashion by imposing his style of high tempo
squash to win the second game 11/6. The third was neck and neck all
the way from 4-4 to 9-9 but Adrian held his nerve to take the game
11/9. Neil was not be denied, he capitalised on some early unforced
errors by Adrian and played some fantastic shots to win the fourth
game 11/7. The fifth game was a one way street for Adrian as he
treated the large Bishop's Stortford crowd to his full array of
attacking shots to take the Harrow Challenger title.
Other event
finals:
Men's A: Olly Dixon bt Daniel Jacobs
9/4 9/2 9/5
Ladies: Lauren Selbybt Isabelle Tweedle 10/8 1/9 7/9 9/5
9/1
Boys U17: Tim Dixon bt Rhys Thomas
9/4 10/8 9/1
Girls U17: Brogan Lane bt Ashley Sheekey 4/9 9/4 9/0 9/10 9/7
Mens Plate: Paul Selby bt Fred Lane
8/10 9/4 9/5 9/4
Boys U17 Plate: Robert Dadds bt Nicholas Mulvey 9/1 9/5
9/5 |
Future events will be held at
Cannons St.Albans on 20-22 July and Broxbourne on
10-12 August.
A number of masters events will be added to the schedule.
To enter or for further information about these events go to the
UK Squash
Academy website or contact
Jason Foster
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#2: 20-22 July,
St Albans #3: 10-12 August, Broxbourne |
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10-Jun, Semis:
[1] Neil Hitchens bt [Q] Mark
Fuller 11/4 11/7, 9/11, 11/9
[5/8] Adrian Waller bt Rory Pennell
11/7, 13/11, 11/2
Hitchens & Waller make Harrow final
Jason Foster reports
 British
Under 19 Champion Adrian Waller progressed to the final with a
relatively comfortable win over Rory Pennell, however Rory did push
Adrian hard in the second game and had a game ball to make it 1-1.
Adrian stepped up a gear and squeezed out the unforced errors from
Rory to shave it 13/11, by then Rory was done for and lost the third
game very quickly.
 Top
seed Neil Hitchens went off like a train and swept Mark Fuller aside
11/4 11/7 in 24 minutes playing high tempo squash. Mark dug in, Neil
was unnerved by some of the refereeing decisions and started to lose
his way, Mark seized on this and played excellent controlled squash
to win the third 11/9 coming back from 8-3 down. Neil started the
4th refocussed and went into an early lead, then suffered another
loss of concentration after another debate with the referee which
enabled Mark to come back. Hitchens received a conduct stroke for
racket abuse to go 9-7 down but was able to compose himself and won
the next four points to reach the final after 51 minutes of
gruelling squash.
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09-Jun:
Youngsters to the fore
at Bishops Stortford
It was a good day for the youngsters in the first of the Harrow
Challenger series at Bishops Stortford as the first two rounds saw
the field whittled down to the last four.
It was a bad day for the seeds though, with only top seed Neil
Hitchens (21) and 5/8 seed Adrian Waller (17) still
standing.
Hitchens overcame club manager Jason Foster in the quarters and
faces Mark Fuller (22) for a place in the final while Waller,
the reigning British U19 champion, meets Rory Pennell (21). |
Sat 9th
Jun, Quarters:
[1] Neil Hitchens bt [Q] Jason Foster
11/8, 11/7, 11/5
[Q] Mark Fuller bt [5/8] Kris Meadows
8/11, 12/10, 11/3, 11/4
Rory Pennell bt Asa Morris
11/6, 11/9, 12/10
[5/8] Adrian Waller bt Adam Fuller
11/13, 11/3, 8/11, 11/4, 11/9 |
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Qualifying complete
at Bishops Stortford
Paul Selby reports
The Qualifying for the Harrow Challenge Series got under way this
evening to a packed club eager to watch some PSA players fighting to
get a position in the main draw.
Local players Keith Timms and Asa Morris, both Stortford regulars,
got the proceedings off to a flying start. Keith played the tall
Connaught player Chris Sherman, and he seemed to get the upper hand
in each game and managed to get home 3/0.
Asa on the other hand got off to a slow start against a late
replacement Paul Wallace from Southend. Paul, in his first outing in
this level of competition, acquitted himself well and took the first
game on a tie break. The excitement obviously got to him because he
lost the next without scoring a point. Asa managed to settle down
and won 3/1.
Mark Fuller put in a good solid performance against club player John
McFarlane who despite being the senior player in the draw was still
able to compete at this level.
The last match on proved to be the most competitive even though the
scoreline of 3/0 would not indicate that. Ben Coleman, the youngest
player in the draw, showed his obvious future potential in putting
club manager Jason Foster under extreme pressure in all the games.
Jason's vast experience saw him through although had Ben taken the
third game the money in the bar was definitely swaying back towards
Ben grinding out a 3/2 win.
The main draw gets under way on Saturday.
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Fri 8th Jun, Qualifying:
Keith Timms bt
Chris Sherman
11/5, 11/5, 11/4
Asa Morris bt
Paul Wallace
10/12, 11/0, 11/7, 11/3
Mark Fuller bt
John McFarlane
11/1, 11/9, 11/4
Jason Foster bt
Ben Coleman
11/8, 11/2, 11/9
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Aspiring stars take up
the Harrow Challenge
Jason Foster previews the event
International Squash comes to Bishop's Stortford Squash Club on
Friday 8th June with the first part of a series of three PSA
Challenger tournaments to be held in Hertfordshire during the 2007
summer season.
The number one seed is World Number 132 Neil Hitchens, who
has recently returned from a successful tour in Malaysia shooting 12
spaces up the rankings. Local star Olly Dixon has been drawn
to play Neil in the first round at 11am on Saturday 9th June.
Former World Number 80 Jago Nardelli is the number two seed,
although he has fallen in the rankings to 171 his aim is to return
to the top 100 by the end of 2007.
The event is boosted by the entry of the current British Under 19
and 17 National Champion Adrian Waller from Hazelwood Squash
Club in Enfield.
Keith Timms and Adam Fuller, two members of the
successful Hertfordshire Mens county team who recently gained
promotion to the Premier Division are in the event, Keith who plays
for Bishop's Stortford in the Essex League plays Asa Morris,
a former first team player for Bishop's Stortford who now lives in
Bristol, in a qualifying match on Friday 8th June at 7pm, Adam plays
Nardelli on Saturday at 1pm.
An International feel has been added by the inclusion of Obaid
Jahan Khan from Pakistan who is ranked number 8 in his country,
there are also entrants from Sweden, Nigeria and Israel.
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Qualifying matches
will be played from 7-9pm on Friday 8th June, First round matches
start from 11am, 12pm and 1pm on Saturday, the quarter-finals will
be played between 5-7pm later that day. The semi-finals are at 11am
and 12pm on Sunday, the Final will be at 6pm.
Also during the weekend a Men's, Ladies and Junior event will be
played involving local club and good county players.
Entry to watch the matches during the weekend at Bishop's Stortford
Squash Club is FREE. |
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#2: 20-22 July,
St Albans #3: 10-12 August, Broxbourne |
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