THERE were plenty of surprises throughout the Ogier Junior Island Squash Championships as over 40 youngsters battled it out for a number of hotly contested titles. James Brehaut comfortably won the U-17 boys’ title, taking all matches in straight sets, including the final, beating Mark Le Conte.

Although there were some excellent rallies, Le Conte was unable to convert the crucial points.

‘Although James proved too strong for his opposition, it was a good experience for others to play against him,’ said Martin Watts, assistant director of island squash.

The final placing left Zak Parsons third, Matt Robilliard fourth and Matt Robin fifth.

In the U-15 boys’ event, Harry Martel and Jack Tacon made their way through the group stages as expected, and they met Gareth Banton and Jonathan Laws in their respective semi-finals.

These matches produced some excellent squash. Martel won when his opponent had to retire injured in the second game.

Tacon controlled his encounter to win 3-0.

He then led the first game of the final 8-2, only to let Martel back in and take it 9-8.

That seemed to play on Tacon’s mind for the rest of the match, which allowed Martel to go on and beat him for the first time, 3-0.

Laws finished third, Banton fourth, Oliver Brehaut fifth and Jacques Ogier sixth.

The U-13 boys’ event perhaps provided the biggest shock of the weekend with favourite Janick Radford beaten in five sets by up-and-coming Charles Stenner.

Stenner had reached a final against Radford in the previous two tournaments and was really fired up for this match.

Janick comfortably took the first game 9-2 and, after a battle, the second 9-7.

At that stage the match looked all over, but Stenner dug deep and played some tight, disciplined squash to draw level at 2-2.

He was now controlling proceedings and although Radford took a 4-2 lead in the decider, Stenner came back to claim it and the match.

The win should give Stenner confidence to take his game to the next level.

In third place was Oliver Banton, fourth was Jacques Scowen and fifth Alex Robin.

Niall Adams won the U-11 boys’ event without dropping a game.

The deciding match for second and third was between Brent Oldfield and Jamie Brouard. The latter took a 2-0 lead but Oldfield skilfully played his way back into it to win 3-2.

Jack English finished fourth and Jack Turvey fifth.

‘Both Charles Stenner and Niall Adams have really improved in the last six months and are players to watch in the future,’ said Watts.

The U-17 girls’ event saw Issey Norman-Ross retain her title against Natalie Dodd.

This is proving to be a good event for the victor after having beaten her good friend for the last two years.

The rivalry between them is as strong as ever but Norman-Ross seems to raise her game for this event, giving her the edge over Dodd.

Katherine Jenson won the combined U-15 and U-13 girls’ event beating Imogen Oldfield into second place, Amy Stenner into third, Jess Le Prevost fourth and Annie Bolt fifth.

Although it was a combined event, the Jensen and Bolt clash was also an U-13 match, with the former winning 3-0.

‘The overall standard of squash throughout the weekend was high,’ said Watts.

‘The players had a busy schedule with the tournament run over two days due to a number of juniors travelling away to compete for Hampshire the next day.’

The junior winners will be presented with their prizes after the Ogier Senior Island Squash Championships on Saturday 23 February.