Seven English players reach quarter-finals of the British Junior Open in Nottingham

By Alan Thatcher

July 22, 2022 - 7:51am

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By JANE BALL (Squash Mad Reporter)

The British Junior Open 2022 quarter-finalists have been decided in Nottingham after the last-16 matches concluded yesterday seeing seven English players reach the final eight.

The women’s matches were up first at The Park Club with four English players looking to book their quarter final places. It was mixed fortunes for the girls with Olivia Besant losing out to Naomi Nohar in straight games and Isabelle McCullough was narrowly defeated by Madison Ho 11-9 In the fifth game.

The 3/4 seeds Asia Harris and Torrie Malik wasted no time in moving through to the next round as they confidently beat USA’s Sonya Sasson and Germany’s Yasmin Cherian both 3-0 in less than 30 minutes. Harris will now face Spain’s Noa Romero for a semi-final spot, while Malik will play unseeded Indian Tanishka Jain.

In the men’s event, five of the six English players who featured in round three have made it through to the last eight. Top seed Sam Todd needed just 26 minutes to defeat USA’s Arav Bagwhati to book his quarter final place, winning 11-1, 11-3, 11-9. Todd will now face surprise quarter finalist Hollis Robertson from the USA.

An English semi-finalist is guaranteed in the top half of the draw as 3/4 seed Jonah Bryant will play 5/8 seed Franklyn Smith in the quarters after they both scored four-game victories over Sebastian Hofman and Rishi Srivastava respectively.

Smith lost the first game but managed to regroup and claim the next three games 11-8, 12-10, 11-8. Bryant found himself level at 1-1 but showed his class to take the next two games and reach the final eight.

England’s other 3/4 seed Sam Osborne-Wylde was in top form as he beat New Zealand’s Mason Smales 3-0 in 33 minutes. Osborne-Wylde, who will be representing England in the World Junior Championships next month, took the match in confident style, winning 11-5, 11-7, 11-8. He will now face Malaysia’s Ameeshenraj Chandaran in the quarter finals.

Another all-English quarter final was prevented as Adam ElShazly couldn’t replicate his round two performance as he lost out to No.2 seed Rowan Damming in four games.

Damming will now play the final English winner of the day, Hassan Khalil. The 5/8 seed came through a huge battle with USA’s Avi Agarwal to progress. Khalil found himself 2-0 up before Agarwal came back to level the match at 2-2. Khalil battled back to eventually take the fifth game 14-12.

Full results from Squash Info

Picture courtesy of England Squash 

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