Ireland’s contingent of 14 players rounded off the four-day Dutch Junior Open with 32 wins in 75 matches – a 42.6 per cent win rate.
Eleven of the 14 Irish participants were part of the new Junior Performance Academy set up by Squash Ireland, and there were plenty of impressive performances at the highly competitive tournament in Amsterdam.
In the girls’ section, Daisy Morrissey stood out with three wins in her five matches to finish 13th in the GU13.
Over in the boys’ section, two players ended with more wins than losses. Jamie Morrissey had four victories in his six games to clinch 13th in the BU13, while Marcelino Cronin also had a W4 L2 record in the same age grade to secure 18th.
GIRLS SECTION
Riley Slade (GU19 – W2 L3): Finished 23rd with a 3-1 win (11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10) over England’s Renitha Srindran. This was after a 0-3 (2-11, 5-11, 4-11) loss to American Elinor Feldman, a 0-3 defeat (3-11, 2-11, 1-11) to Austrian Kristina Begeba and a 3-0 win (11-9, 11-9, 11-3) over Iranian Armiti Ghoroghchian in placings matches following a 0-3 loss (2-11, 0-11, 0-11) to Dutch player Renske Huntelaar in the round of 32.
Lucy Lynch (GU15 – W0 L4): Finished 47th. Bowed out in the round of 64 with a 0-3 defeat to American Laura Techar (1-11, 2-11, 2-11). Then lost play-off matches to Canada’s Isha Saraf (0-3: 10-12, 3-11, 5-11), Russia’s Julia Kozlova (0-3: 10-12, 3-11, 5-11) and Lara Berntsen of the Netherlands (1-3: 3-11, 11-8, 4-11, 6-11).
Zoe Nyhan (GU15 – W3 L3): Finished 27th with a 3-1 win (7-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-6) versus American Samaira Athalye. After losing 0-3 (2-11, 6-11, 6-11) to England’s Maya Goel in the round of 32, she lost 0-3 (1-11, 4-11, 0-11) to American Arushi Saha, beat American Lilly Lake 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9) and lost to Canada’s Fin Ryding 0-3 (6-11, 2-11, 5-11) in placing matches. Began with a round of 64 walkover against South African Nhlamulo Masingi.
Daisy Morrissey (GU13 – W3 L2): A 3-0 success (11-5, 11-4, 11-7) versus Belgium’s Lime Hendrickx secured 13th place. Began with a 3-0 qualification round of 16 win over Dutch player Sophie Verhulst (11-6, 11-7, 11-3) but beaten 0-3 (5-11, 4-11, 3-11) in the round of 16 by top seed Kadija Bondok of Egypt. A 0-3 (5-11, 6-11, 5-11) play-off loss to American Asha Ponnuru was next before a 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-4) win over Egypt’s Shaden Elsayed.
Caoimhe English (GU11 – W1 L3): Finished eighth with a 0-3 loss (10-12, 7-11, 11-13) to American Noelle Rabaa. Started with a 3-1 round of 16 win over Angela Cao of the USA. A 0-3 quarter-final loss (2-11, 5-11, 5-11) to America’s Loretta Pochoda-Nowell was followed by a 0-3 play-off defeat (3-11, 4-11, 2-11) to Queenie Zhang of the USA.
Maia Morrissey (GU11 – W1 L4): Finished 16th after a 0-3 loss (5-11, 2-11, 9-11) to England’s Lyla Blumberg. Began with a 3-1 win over England’s Maebh Lovely 3-1 (4-11, 11-8, 13-11, 13-11) in a qualification quarter-final before losing 0-3 (0-11, 0-11, 2-11) to another English player, Abigail Zeng, in the round of 16. The play-offs then featured a 0-3 loss to American Paige Smith (0-11, 2-11, 0-11) and another 0-3 defeat to Colombian Veronica Martinez (9-11, 4-11, 7-11).
BOYS SECTION
Ben Lynch (BU15 – W2 L4): Finished 40th with a 0-3 loss (4-11, 6-11, 7-11) to Argentina’s Mirko Rigotti Dominquez. Began with a 0-3 loss to Denmark’s Mathias Berliner in the round of 64 (6-11, 5-11, 9-11) before winning two placings matches, defeating Dutch opponent Milan Wiersma 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-4) and Switzerland’s Benedikt Ammann 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-4). Then came a 0-3 loss to American Leon Solinhac (6-11, 3-11, 8-11) and another 0-3 defeat to Hong Kong China’s Jules Achouch (7-11, 7-11, 7-11).
Josh Archer (BU13 – W3 L3): Finished 29th with a 3-0 win (11-5, 11-7, 11-1) win over Dutch player Jenson Meijer. Defeated American Colin Dimarino 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-5) in the round of 64 and lost to Zachary Yu, another American, 2-3 (11-8, 4-11, 13-11, 8-11, 3-11) in the round of 32. Then came 0-3 play-off losses to England’s Xavier Rowe (6-11, 6-11, 7-11) and France’s Gabriel Martini (3-11, 9-11, 6-11).
Ailon Chen (BU13 – W1 L4): Finished 16th after a 1-3 loss (3-11, 11-9, 11-13, 7-11) to Harry Knox, his fellow Irish player. Began in the round of 32 with a 3-0 win (11-4, 11-1, 11-2) over Joris Willems of the Netherlands, but lost 0-3 (3-11, 4-11, 3-11) to American Carter Macdougall in the round of 16. Further play-off losses followed, 0-3 (5-11, 5-11, 4-11) to Canadian Nolan Ryding and 0-3 (3-11, 5-11, 6-11) to Jamie Morrissey, another Irish teammate.
Marcelino Cronin (BU13 – W4 L2): Finished 18th after a 0-3 defeat (10-12, 10-12, 5-11) to Egyptian Mohamed Ghait. Started with a 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-4) round of 64 win over Qatar’s Alian Hassan, but lost 2-3 in the round of 32 to England’s Logan Willstrop (11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 12-14). The play-offs then featured a hat-trick of 3-0 wins over France’s Gabriel Martini (11-4, 11-4, 11-3), England’s Xavier Rowe (11-6, 11-4, 11-8) and Louis Lavergne of France (11-1, 11-3, 11-6).
Harry Knox (BU13 – W3 L3): Finished 15th with a 3-1 win (11-3, 9-11, 13-11, 11-7) over Irish teammate Ailong Chen. Began with wins over American Sebastian Bakker 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-4) in the round of 64 and then France’s Louis Lavergne 3-1 (13-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5) in the round of 32. Beaten 0-3 by American Lars Daly in the round of 16 (5-11, 4-11, 4-11). The play-offs started with a 1-3 loss (7-11, 3-11, 12-10, 4-11) to American Anderson Morgan and another 1-3 defeat (8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 8-11) to Zachary Yu, another USA player.
Jamie Morrissey (BU13 – W4 L2): Finished 13th with a 3-1 win (11-13, 11-6, 11-7, 11-0) over American Zachary Yu. Began with a round of 64 win over Croatia’s Viktor Jankovic 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-5) and another 3-0 (15-13, 11-8, 11-6) win over Switzerland’s Livio Ferrarini. Beaten in the round of 16 clash by American Graeson Smith 0-3 (4-11, 7-11, 1-11) and then lost to Hungary’s Alex Kosztyu 0-3 (7-11, 7-11, 6-11) in the play-offs before beating Ailon Chen, his Irish teammate, 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-6).
Alfie Knox (BU11 – W2 L3): Finished 15th with a 3-2 win (8-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8) over Egypt’s Youssef Mohamed Osman. Defeated Pakistan’s Azhar Noman 3-0 (11-0, 11-1, 11-1) in the round of 32 but lost 1-3 to Gavriel Azoulay of Israel in the round of 16 (2-11, 11-9, 5-11, 2-11). Then lost play-off matches, 2-3 to Poland’s Antoni Urbanski (11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 15-17, 6-11) and 0-3 (6-11, 8-11, 11-13) to Jack Liu of the USA.
Liam Mahony (BU11 – W3 L3): Finished 20th following a 1-3 loss (12-14, 8-11, 11-8, 6-11) to Qatar’s Maaz Bin Fahad. Began with a 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-4) qualification round of 16 win over Raff van Altena of the Netherlands but was beaten 0-3 (2-11, 4-11, 2-11) by American Lukas Daly in the round of 32. Then beat Israel’s Ido Lavian 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-5) and Canada’s Jasper Che 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-0) before losing 2-3 to Egypt’s Seif El Sadat (11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 4-11, 2-11).
