SQUASH: Record numbers for LDSC Junior Championships

For many of the minis it was their first competition and some took a while to find their feet.

The first final saw Methab Khan face Aniket Agarwall and the match was nip and tuck until Khan rattled off four points in a row to and although Agarwall fought back well, his opponent finished the job.

Agarwall then dominated the second game, taking it to a deciding third, where he took a 9-1 lead and fought off a spirited Khan to claim the title.

The third and fourth place play-off was a sibling showdown where Michael Collins triumphed against Lucy Collins.

In the U11 tournament it was almost predictable that the Main sisters would end up in the final and that it would turn into a five game thriller, both having reached that stage without dropping a game.

Lily, the elder of the siblings took the first 11-9, before her younger sister Natalie, reversed the score in the second.

Natalie then took the lead by claiming the third 11-8 and looked to be cruising to victory at 8-2 up in the fourth.

However, Lily showed real grit and determination and no lack of skill to recover and win the game with an outstanding backhand volley kill in a tie-break having saved a Championship ball.

Natalie seemed shell-shocked as Lily took a 6-0 lead in the decider, but fought back to save four match balls before Lily triumphed 11-9.

The U15 category was dominated by Sophia John, still only 11, who only dropped one game in the whole tournament, where all the other competitors were boys.

This was arguably the most competitive category with two matches being five game thrillers and the player of the tournament, selected by the coaches, named as Connor Seymour.

He showed tremendous fighting spirit throughout the day and exemplary sportsmanship.

The U17 category was expected to be decided between the in-form Sean Davies and Amy Rigby, given their match experience in the County League, but when Rigby lost her first match against Alex Axford it clearly wasn’t going to be that way.

In the end Davies triumphed without dropping a game in imperious style.