Rising stars of squash here to compete
Mitchell Kempton and Anna O’Connor are Southland’s top players for the New Zealand Junior Squash Open in Invercargill.
Southland has 42 of the 105 players in the open, which is being held at Squash City and Stadium Southland from today until Sunday. Ben Ratcliff, of Victoria, is the only Australian playing.
Fifth-seed Kempton played for New Zealand at the World Junior Championships in Tauranga last year, while O’Connor, who is seeded ninth, was in the New Zea- land Secondary Schools’ team in 2017.
Squash City’s club captain Simon Flett said the country’s top under-19 players would compete at the open in an attempt to secure a place in the New Zealand team for the Men’s & Women’s World Junior Individual Championships in India in July.
The Waikato Open (May 11-13) and Auckland Junior Open (May 25-27) are other tournaments for players to impress selectors. Six men and six women will make up the national team.
‘‘It’s the first time we’ve had the [New Zealand] open and we’ve got all the best players coming,’’ Flett said.
North Islanders Glenn Templeton and his sister, Katie, arrived from Katikati, in the Bay of Plenty, on Wednesday and were on the Squash City courts practising yesterday. Katie is in the New Zealand Emerging Girls’ Squad.
Both are happy with their current form.
‘‘I’m playing pretty well at the moment,’’ Glenn said.
The open is one of two major squash events in Invercargill during autumn and winter, with the other being the NZ Southern Open between June 20 and 24.
It is a Professional Squash Association (PSA) men’s tournament.
Players from throughout the world have competed at association events in Invercargill and a lot of them were in action at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast this month.
Kiwi Paul Coll, who won the Invercargill squash association event two years ago, gained silver medals in singles and mixed doubles at the Games.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Squash City and Stadium Southland have hosted a PSA event.