Home-grown winners at the Welsh Junior Open

Potential future Welsh squash stars walked away with four titles at the Welsh Junior Open in Cardiff, also finishing runners up on four occasions.

The girls in particular tasted success, with Eleri Rowlands and Bronte Wright taking the top two spots in the under-11s, Ciara Richards triumphing in the under-13s, and Wales again taking first and second in the under-17s through Elin Harlow and Jenny Haley.

The under-17s was particularly enthralling for Welsh supporters as Wales actually scooped the top three slots.

North Walian Harlow, and Haley and Lauren Williams from Newport, all won their respective pools to compete for the top three slots in the second round-robin stage.

Harlow showed imperious form all day, winning all her matches in Cardiff and only dropping four sets in the process.

Two of those were in a tight 3-2 victory against Haley, while Williams went down 3-0 to hand her the title.

There was also double delight in the under-11s category. Llanelli girl Eleri Rowlands won an all-Welsh, three-girl field against her compatriots Bronte Wright and Phoebe Marshman to take the title home.

Eleri Rowlands (left) with her award.

In the boys’ under-11s category, Wales took three of the top four slots. In the final, Tino Sidoli-Williams beat Owen Evans-Hayes 3-0 in the final, having not dropped a set all day, to win the event.

Fellow Welshman Rhys Gooch lost the third-place play-off to Ireland’s Dylan Moran in another successful age category for Wales.

Tino Sidoli-Williams (left) is the new boys' under-11s champion.

That was the only Welsh title in the boys’ events, but Aberdare’s Ciara Richards built on her recent title at the French Junior Open by winning her home country’s equivalent at under-13 girls’ level.

She defeated England’s Eve Coxon, who she has both beaten and lost to on other big occasions, 3-0. Richards now joins up with the Welsh team at her age level as their No1 player going in to the Five Nations tournament with England, Scotland, Ireland and France.

Ciara Richards (left) celebrates her win.

In the boys’ under-17s, North Wales’ Emyr Evans, whose father was a Welsh international, finished runner-up to Ireland’s Michael Craig. Evans conducted himself well considering Craig was runner-up at this age level in the French Junior Open, meaning he went one better in Cardiff.

Elsewhere, Jared Carter (England) defeated Conor Moran (Ireland) in the final of the boys’ under-13s, with Wales’ Jordan Williams downed 3-2 in the semi-finals by Carter despite leading 2-0.

England also triumphed in the boys’ under-15s and under-19s. Stuart MacGregor triumphed in the younger age category over Ireland’s Oisin Dunne, while Richie Fallows won the under-19s with a win over Israel’s Daniel Poleschuk.

Again in the under-15s, Wales tasted defeat at the semi-final stage with Daniel Christopher losing 3-0 to Dunne, while Poleschuk came from 2-1 down to beat Wales’ Joel Makin 3-2 in the semis of the under-19s. Makin then defeated England’s Jim Bamber 3-2 for third place, while Christopher came fourth after defeat to Englishman James Wyatt.

In the girls’ under-15s, Ukrainian Nadia Usenko overcame India’s Vedika Arunacharam 3-0 for the title, with Arunacharam ending Wales’ Tyra Beattie’s challenge in the semis.

And finally, in the under-19s it was an all-England final, with Georgina Kennedy defeating Lydia Hume 3-0. Kennedy had beaten home-grown girl Fiona Murphy in the semis.