Sunday, November 3, 2024

Australian Junior Squash: U19 hat-tricks, twin sisters contest finals

Queesland’s Madison Lyon and Western Australia’s Oscar Curtis created history at the Australian Junior Squash Championships when they won the under-19 titles for the third time, while twin sisters competed for the under-13 title in in Brisbane.

Lyon put on an impressive display to beat opponent Courtney Scholtz (VIC) in just 15 minutes 3-0 (11-0, 11-6, 11-4) to secure her third U19 Girls AJC title.

“Feels really great to have defended my title today, it is my last year as a junior so it is great to end on a high,” she said. “Courtney was great competition, she really kept up with the pace.”

Lyon became the first female in over 45 years to win the title three times, joining Beverly Malcolm (1952-1954), Pat McClenaughan (1961-1963) and Rhonda Shapland (1972, 1974-1976) as the only ones to do so.

Curtis then came from a game down to defeat Andre Lynn (VIC) 3-1 (9-11, 11-2, 11-2, 11-0), becoming the first male ever to achieve the U19 hat-trick.

He said: “It was a bit rough on court at the start, I had to get it together to win the rest of the games.”

A recent move to Queensland has shown change is as good as a holiday for former Victorian Haider Naqvi who beat fellow 3/4 seed Jackon Wylie (NSW) 3-1 (9-11, 11-1, 11-3, 11-8) in the U17 Boys final.

Lijana Sultana (QLD) now has a professional squash career on her mind following her win over Joanne Joseph (VIC) in the U17 Girls final.

Sultana’s 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-9) win secured back-to-back titles in the U17 Girls division.

“It was great to have a win on my home court and have all my support, friends and family close by has been a huge help,” said Sultana.

“I’m taking a gap year next year to hopefully play professionally, I’ve just signed up for PSA and can’t wait to get started.”

Kasper Cheung (NSW) overcame difficult conditions on the court to also secure back-to-back titles with his win against Joel Roshan Raj (QLD) in the U15 Boys final 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-6).

“It was a tough match, eyewear was a big issue with the humidity, you have to constantly take them off and wipe them once every few rallies, it is what it is, you need to play the conditions,” he said.

Yet another defending champion reigned supreme in the U15 girls division with Sarbani Maitra (QLD) defeating Victoria’s Tina Ma 3-1 (11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 11-2).

“It feels amazing to have defended my title, the ball was bouncing around on court a lot,” said Maitra. “It’s Tina’s first year in U15s and she has come up really well, I was really glad to play her today and see her play well.”

A unique situation in the U13 Girls saw the final become a family affair with twin sisters Olivia and Nadia Van Zon (SA) playing one another.

In the end, Olivia claimed the title with a 3-0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-2) victory.

“I honestly didn’t expect to win but I am happy I gave it a good crack,” she said.

“Last night and this morning Nadia and I were definitely getting into each other’s ears about who was going to win. She played much better than I expected.”

The U13 Boys final saw first and second seed Kaveen Kohombange (QLD) and Thomas Wang (NSW) play for the title, with the Queenslander coming away with the 3-0 win (11-1, 11-4, 11-2).

The U11 Boys final was a five-game thriller with defending champion Kai Dumbleton (QLD) having to fight for his win against top-seed Benjamin Boardman (NSW) 3-2 (11-9, 12-10, 5-11, 7-11, 6-11).

Yashica Jiwa Mohan (VIC) defeated Annette Chow (NSW) in another five-game match to secure the U11 Girls title.

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