Ireland had a 35-strong contingent at this weekend’s German Junior Open in Hamburg, the latest gold status event on the European squash circuit.
Four newly-crowned Irish Junior Nationals champions – Harry Knox (BU13), Michael Lai (BU15), Aaron Knox (BU19) and Shriya Drawid (GU19) – all travelled to Germany just days after last Sunday’s success in Cork.
BU13: Ireland’s list of nine entrants was headed up by Harry Knox, who was seeded No.1 for the 44-player event. Beaten in the quarter-finals, the new Irish Junior Nationals champion went on to finish in fifth place, defeating Celtic clubmate Jamie Morrissey [17/32] 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8) in their play-off.
Elsewhere, Sutton’s Eoin O’Brien [17/32], the Junior Nationals runner-up, finished 11th and Belfast’s Josh Archer [9/16] was 14th. Sutton’s Liam Mahony [17/32] finished 17th, Mount Pleasant’s Ridit Thapar [17/32] came 21st, Celtic’s Alfie Knox [17/32] was 23rd, Leo Heron [17/32] of Windsor was 27th and Celtic’s Tom Hardiman [33/64] was 33rd.
GU13: Ireland had four players entered in this 15-player event, with Mount Pleasant’s Bridget Whitcomb [5/8], who was fifth at the Irish Junior Nationals, reaching the quarter-finals and ultimately finishing in sixth place. Sutton’s Faye Ring [9/16] came ninth, Celtic’s Daisy Morrissey [9/16], the Junior Nationals runner-up, was 13th and Windsor’s Sofia Heron [9/16] came 15th.
BU15: Mount Pleasant’s Michael Lai [9/16], the Junior Nationals champion, finished ninth in the 63-player event. Sutton’s John Quigley [17/32], last weekend’s runner-up in Cork, was 35th, with club colleagues Harry Yeomans [17/32] coming 54th and Archit Ajay [33/64] 57th.
GU15: Ireland had four players in the 28-player event, with Zoë Nyhan, the Junior Nationals runner-up from Mount Pleasant, seeded 9/16 and finishing 19th. Her club colleague, Raghad Aboelela [17/32], who was fourth at the Nationals, placed 23rd. Nationals third-place finisher, Saibh Darcy of Sutton, was 25th, with fellow Suttonian Esme Ring [17/32] coming in 26th.
BU17: Ireland’s five-strong entry list in the 72-player event was headed up by Christian Dromgoole [3/4], the BU19 Nationals runner-up. He finished 18th in Germany, with Celtic’s Adam Power [33/64] coming joint 36th. Sutton’s Samuel Hann [33/64] finished joint 42nd, Celtic’s Nathan Walsh [Q] was joint 50th with the overseas affiliated Vinny Knaggs joint 67th.
GU17: Highfield’s Maggie Jones [17/32], who came third at the Nationals, placed 11th in the 21-player Hamburg event.
BU19: New Nationals champions, Aaron Knox [9/16] of Celtic, finished 13th in the 54-player draw, Sutton duo Tyler Dromgoole [17/32] and Advik Ajay [33/64] came 29th and 40th, with Fitzwilliam’s Frank O’Flynn [33/64] coming joint 50th.
GU19: The 29-player event had four Irish entrants, and it culminated in Belfast’s Shriya Drawid [9/16] repeating her Nationals final win over Sutton’s Zoe Yeomans [9/16] in their 15th-place play-off, winning 3-1 (11-5, 14-12, 2-11, 11-5].
Another all-Irish play-off for 25th place went the way of Mount Pleasant’s Riley Slade [17/32] 3-2 [11-8, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6) against Sutton’s Isabel Fallon [17/32].
