ISSEY NORMAN-ROSS set the standard for the Sarnians as she won the south-east area under-15 girls’ title. Six Guernsey juniors travelled to Wimbledon to take part in the closed event and all enjoyed a successful tournament by reaching the second day.
But it was Norman-Ross who stood out, beating in the final rival Jemma Ockwell, who is ranked fourth in the UK.
The Guernsey girl had to fight her way back from 2-1 down to overcome her opponent from Hertfordshire.
‘It was Issey’s dogged determination that won her the event,’ said Martin Watts, the assistant director of island squash, who travelled with the team.
‘Not only did she come back from 2-1 down in the final, but her previous opponent Georgie Ingham, who is UK number 16, came back from 2-0 down to level their match before she dug in and took the last game 9-7.’
Natalie Dodd and Jack Tacon both came second in their age groups.
The former, playing in the under-17 girls’ event, finished above Annabel Collins-Balland, who is ranked 12 in the UK.
Dodd narrowly lost to eventual winner Bryony Johnson after a very good performance.
She was just unable to match the pace of her opponent in the fifth game, losing 9-5 and the match 3-2.
‘Natalie had raised her game over the weekend and played some great squash.’
Tacon was competing in the under-13 boys’ event and was unlucky not to take a game from UK number five Richie Fallows.
After a slow start in the first, Tacon managed to up his game to take the second and third games to 10-9 and 10-8. He had a number of game points but was unable to convert them.
Tacon had a tough draw and did very well to get to the final.
His quarter-final was against James Evans and once again the Guernsey boy had to come back from 2-1 down to beat a strong opponent.
The Sarnian showed how much all the local players have improved over the past six months by beating Owain Taylor in the semi-final and not giving his opponent a look-in, beating him 9-1, 9-3, 9-3. Their previous match had gone to five games.
Katherine Jenson breezed through her first two matches against Niamh Green and Libby Walters before coming up against number-one seed Martha Possegger.
Despite a brave effort, Jenson could not match the experience of the number two-ranked player in the UK.
After a closely fought second game, Possegger dominated the third to win the match 3-0.
Jenson won her third-fourth play-off 3-0 against Laura Mullarkey.
Harry Martel lost in the semi-final of the under-15 boys’ plate to Jack Jago having played extremely well in one of his first events off island.
Amy Stenner had a tough draw in the first round of the under-13 girls, losing to Jessica Foster 3-1.
Stenner raised her game for the rest of the tournament and went on to win the plate, beating Hannah Mulvey and Megan Goring 3-0.
Watts was extremely pleased with the performances of each player, who all raised their game to compete with the high standard of their opponents.
‘This event is the next stage after county, allowing players to set targets higher and compete against players in the south-east region of England, which is a strong area with the likes of Surrey and Essex included,’ he said.
‘The team spirit shown by all players this weekend gave a real positive to each while on court, with a lot of support throughout the weekend for all the players in the squad.’
Article posted on 19th October, 2007 - 12.00am
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