Udy, Andrew bag squash titles
Marlborough players Quinn Udy and Kiriana Andrew came away with the top titles during the Marlborough Junior Squash Open on Saturday and Sunday.
The event was contested by junior players from Marlborough, Nelson and Kaikoura.
National representative Udy prevailed in the boys open final over Andrew, who qualified for the decider after a hard-fought semi final against Nelson junior Henry Aitken.
Andrew claimed the girls open crown by beating Kate Roughan in the final.
Marlborough player Chris Hebberd won the boys division one draw over Kaikoura player Ash Fussell, while boys division two was claimed by Jono Poswillo, over Kieran Charles.
One of the province’s senior players, Pavel Merta, recently won the Canterbury Masters title in Marlborough and put some of his prize money towards a trophy to be presented each year at the Marlborough Junior Open to the best performing J grade player. This year Fussell claimed the award.
Junior players are well supported in the Marlborough region with both clubs running regular club nights for the juniors plus regular one-day tournaments for the J grade players.
The success of the junior programmes is underlined by the selection of three Marlborough players in the Canterbury junior team to compete in the NZ junior teams event at the end of September in Hamilton, immediately after the individual junior nationals.
The players named are Udy, Andrew and Amelia Wadsworth. Nic Dann will accompany the team as the coach/manager along with John Brown from Canterbury.