Double national success for teenage duo
Teenage Bridge of Allan Sports Club squash aces Lucy Murchie and Kyle Penman tasted double success at the Scottish Junior Open in Edinburgh.
On a day when 10 of the 30 medals up for grabs were claimed by Central Scotland squad members, Lucy claimed the girls under-17 and under-19 titles and Kyle the boys under-15 and under-17s while Anna Halliday and Rowan Niven took silver and bronze in the girls under-15s, Merryn Penman bronze in the girls under-13 and Oliver Hunter landed third place in the boys under-15.
Lucy had to come from two sets down in the under-19 final to beat Beth Moglia to seal victory by 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.
She said: “In the first two games I was getting outplayed, Beth was playing so well. Her length was good and she hardly made a mistake.
“I got back into both games but left myself too much to do. After that I stayed relaxed and tried to keep my shots accurate and not be too cute with them.
“The third and fourth games were much better for me and I was just glad to get over the line in the fifth because I felt it could have gone either way.”
Kyle won all eight of his matches to secure gold in the under-15 and uner-17 events. He was top seed in the U15s and didn’t drop a game throughout, defeating second seed Dylan Pearman in the final, 11-7, 11-1, 11-5.
He went into the Under-17s as No 3 seed and edged out second-ranked Adam Hunter in their semi-final before defeating top seed Rory Richmond 5-11, 11-9, 11-13, 6-11.
“I came here really wanting to win the U15s but the U17s was going to be a real stretch to win. So to come away with two titles is something I’m proud of.
“Despite playing a lot of matches I felt fine physically ahead of the U17 final but mentally it was tough.
“The body and feet were hurting but I kept going mentally until the end.”