SWPL WEEK 14 - FINAL WEEK

It is the final week of the South Wales Premier League (SWPL) this week and the top of the table is as tight as it can be, pre Christmas Champions Strings from Swansea are only one point behind league leaders Rhiwbina. Thursday 21^st April  are  the final fixtures of the season with Strings at home to Cardiff and Rhiwbina at home to St Mellons.

Strings have led the league most of the season until the top two teams met  on 31st March, Rhiwbina were strong  on the night and won the match 4-1, 18-4 and turned around a 13-point gap. Alex Gough was called in for that match to the surprise of the travelling Strings, Alex played at 2 string that night strengthening the Rhiwbina team down the order.

Tonight Cardiff travel to Strings. Cardiff will be without Nyall Driscoll as he is away with the Welsh  team in the  Under 19 European Team Championships, they may be without Nic Birt at number 1 string as he  was with  the Welsh Team as their coach  for the individual event. Strings will look to get maximum points tonight to keep the pressure on Rhiwbina who play St Mellons at home. St Mellons have David Evans at 1 for them; the former World Number 3 and 2000 British Open Champion will look to keep his unbeaten record in the SWPL tonight when he faces current Welsh number 1 and Welsh National Champion (2010 and 2011) Peter Creed.

Strings Captain Dave Howe said “ I'm excited about the last game and hoping to win the league outright rather than get dragged into a play off. Having led the league for most of the year by putting out the same committed group of boys it was a shame to lose top spot when the presence of Goughy (Alex Gough) in one match has thrown it wide open. Hopefully we can reward the commitment of Sue and Paul Davies(Strings Squash Club owners) and all members at  Strings by becoming champions in front of a home crowd. Good luck to  Rhiwbina in their match, great climax to the season”

Rhiwbina Captain Matthew O’Conner said “The Rhiwbina CSC team are looking for their first Welsh top league success after a few decades since they were last title holders. After the tightest season for a long time it comes down to the last match to decide the champions with the prospect of Welsh Champion  Peter Creed vs Wales most successful player of all time David Evans being the match that clinches it for Rhiwbina or hands it to Strings depending on their result against Cardiff. Great night of  squash ahead”

As well as  the Rhiwbina and Strings fixtures, Caldicot travel to Llanelli and UWIC travel to Newport.  Caldicot and UWIC are both hovering around the drop zone so vital games for these teams in a quest to stay in the SWPL. Good luck to all the teams and congratulations to all of them  for  providing us with a great season of top-flight squash.

If Rhiwbina do win the SWPL post Christmas league then Strings, who won it pre Christmas and Rhiwbina will have a playoff match at Cardiff Squash Club Thursday May 5^th to determine the overall SWPL Champion of the 2010/2011 season.

Why not go down to a club near you with a SWPL fixture.  There are matches at Newport, Llanelli, Rhiwbina and Strings as well as Premier ‘B’ fixtures at Abergavenny and Cardiff Squash Club. If you can’t get to one of these you can follow all that is going on at any of the matches LIVE on facebook, keep up to date with all the scores from all the games from 7pm on Thursday 21^st April, it could be a great night with twists and turns around every corner.

Words From Damian Burgess Press Officer, Squash Wales

WEST PLAYES BEST IN ID GLAM OPEN

The Orange Squash Mid Glam Open took place on the weekend of the 15^th to 17^th April 2011 at Llantrisant Leisure Centre and Llantwit Fardre Leisure Centre. 40 competitors turned up from all over south Wales as well as some players from over the bridge.

In the ‘A’ Grade event Dan West [1] and Paul Rawden [2] made it to the finals, both had different journeys to the final with Dan West of Bristol not dropping a single game to the final. Paul Rawden of St Georges Hill in England made it through but had to endure a five game match as well as three 4 game matches.

In the final Dan West got off to the best start and raced in to a lead, Paul looked flat on his feet, the first two games were over pretty quick and a 3 – 0 looked inevitable with some great squash from Dan. In the third Paul put everything in to every point and worked Dan around the court, its was soon 2 – 2 in games and the crowd were given a treat of a five setter.

Both players tried to control the T in the fifth and both had success in different rallies, eventually Dan had match ball at 10 – 8, Paul won the next point but Dan won the last point with a great nick from his backhand. A great match of squash.

In the other grades Greg Dainty of UWIC used his experience against Frazer Richards and won the match 3 – 1 in the ‘B’ Final, in the ‘C’ local boy Chris Emanuel clinched another 3 – 2 beating Gary Fry of Rhondda.

A big thank you to all who took part in the event, anyone who refereed and to Paul Aubrey for his help running the event at Llantwit, a great turn out from UWIC again with 6 competitors from the University. A massive thank you to all the sponsors especially MURPHY GROUP for their support and to LAU (Lazers are Us) for the amazing trophies yet again.

We hope to run another Mid Glam Open in the near future, please come and support the event and support squash in Wales.

Words From Damian Burgess

Press Officer, Squash Wales and Event Organizer at Orange Squash

Over50 LADIES WIN FOR SECOND YEAR

The Ladies Over 50 Inter-County team retained the Inter-County cup when the team of Lynne Davies, Pat Harris, Kath Horler Clee and Sian Johnson finished second in the their group and qualified for the finals weekend with a difficult draw against Avon.  

In the semi-final Kath got the team off to a great start winning 3-0. Sian has had many battles with the Avon No1, Helen Gould, but on this occasion Sian lost 3-1   in a hard fought match. With the match at 1-1 Lynne needed to beat the British Closed 055 winner Jan Ellis   and, after losing the 1st game, Lynne won 3-1 and the match 2-1. 

In the final South East Wales met Kent again this year and the team won 3-0 with Sian beating Karen Hume who was 3rd in the World Masters in Cologne. A happy team travelled back over the bridge!

Well done to the ladies, a great achievement to win it for the second year. May the run continue for many years.

Words From Lynne Davies Over 50 Ladies Team Captain

Children from Llantrisant Squash Club help to present the NSPCC message to Assembly members

Squash Wales, the National Governing Body for squash in Wales, fully supports their junior members from Llantrisant Squash club who have helped to deliver this NSPCC campaign message. Mike Workman, Director of Coaching and Development, recognises the importance of all sports working together to embrace this priority theme.

The charity’s ‘I Stand for Children’ campaign aims to make child protection a priority for the next Assembly Government, so more tragic cases of abuse can be avoided. NSPCC Wales has called on prospective Assembly candidates to support the new campaign.

Also backed by Welsh International rugby player Martyn Williams, NSPCC Wales head of service, Des Mannion said: ‘We need to make sure that the next elected Assembly Government keeps child protection high on its list of priorities’.

Welsh rugby international Martyn Williams said: ‘Protecting our children simply must continue to be up there on the next Assembly Government’s list of priorities. That’s why I stand for children and I hope that others will do the same in the run up to the election’.

Des met with Assembly Members, prospective Assembly candidates and four ten year old children from Llantrisant Squash Club at the Ty Hywel Building, Cardiff, to promote the appeal. Kate Workman, Olivia Enoch, Jay Coombes and Joshua Lock, all from Pontyclun Primary School presented to Assembly Members, the importance of ensuring that children are effectively protected from abuse in all sports settings in Wales.

To find out more, call 0203 188 3658, or visit the website at Istandforchildren.com/wales

SOUTH WALES PREMIER LEAGUE (WEEK 12 PREVIEW – 7th March)

Words by Damian Burgess, 31.3.2011

Last weeks results have opened up the league and now put Rhiwbina in the driving seat, the 18 - 4 point win over Strings put Rhiwbina above them in the league by 1 point. Rhiwbina drafted in Alex Gough, former world number 5, and won the match 4 - 1, Strings picked up points in some rubbers and Dan Anderson had a great result against Richard Murphy beating him 3 - 2.

In the other matches of Week 11 Cardiff beat StMellons 4 - 1, UWIC beat Caldicot 3 - 2 and Newport beat Llanelli 5 - 0. The results put Rhiwbina top by 1point over Strings and Cardiff and Newport stay in 3rd and 4th.

This week (WEEK 12) Rhiwbina make the trip to Caldicot, a match they must win to back up the result from last week. Earlier in the season Caldicot came to Rhiwbina and beat them 3 - 2, can they do it again tonight?

Strings are at home tonight and play host to StMellons who may be without their unbeaten number 1 David Evans after he pulled out of the Caffreys Open injured on the weekend. Strings won the fixture earlier in the season 3 - 2, they will be hoping for a similar if not better result tonight.

In other matches Cardiff play Newport and UWIC travel to Llanelli in the battle at the bottom.

Hopefully some great squash tonight in the Premier League, keep up to date with scores by following Squash Wales on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE and on here at BLOGGER.

Words From Damian Burgess Press Officer, Squash Wales

EVANS AND CREED WIN BIG AGAIN

Words by Damian Burgess 3.4.2011

The weather was dismal but the squash brightened Newport Squash Club on the weekend of 2^nd and 3^rd April with another great Caffrey’s Newport Open, players from all over Wales came to the city. This is a graded event so there was all abilities and ages on show, Men and Ladies competed for the titles and for the prize, some cans of Caffrey’s.

In all the grades there were great matches from the very first round, juniors were competing against adults as well as other juniors, a great atmosphere was building from the very first point on Saturday morning.

In the A grade of the Men’s event Peter Creed, the current champion of two years as well as two time National Champion was again in fine form and extended the great run he has had over the last two years. Everyone thought it would be a Peter Creed and David Evans final but an injury to David in the semi-final against Nic Birt forced him to pull out. The final was contested between Nic and Peter; the two had met at the Sport Wales National Centre in January for the Welsh Closed Championships, when Peter came out on top, winning 3 – 1.

The final started well for Nic and he was quickest out of the traps taking an early lead, the crowd filled the balcony at Newport Squash Club. Nic took the first game but it was soon 1 – 1 and both players were finding it hard to control the very warm and very alive ball. Nic then took a 2 – 1 lead but the match was soon leveled again at 2 – 2, what a great final. The final game was very tight and reached 9 – 9, a point now for either player would give them “Match Ball”, Creed took the point and then took the next to take the Championship. This is Peters second title of the season in Wales after his National Title win, Peter is also now unbeaten in a Welsh Competition in 2 years after three Caffrey’s and two National titles.

After the win Peter said “Thank you to Squash Wales for their support, thanks to Newport Squash Club and Greg Tippings on another great event, thank you to the sponsors of the event Caffrey’s and thank you to Damian on all the coverage of the event and previous events, it makes a difference”

In the Women’s A grade final the two top seed made it to the final without dropping a single game, Tesni Evans the current Women’s Welsh National Champion was taking on current Welsh number 1 and number 1 seed for the event Deon Saffery. The pair have never met in a competition, the packed crowd were looking forward to a great exhibition of squash from the two young ladies.

Like the men’s final the women’s went to 2 – 2 with each of the ladies taking the lead before the fifth. In the fifth game Tesni and Deon both took control of different rallies, the retrievals by both players were exceptional with both making little or no errors rally after rally. The fifth went to 9 – 9 and after a long rally which Tesni controlled very well, came a mistake from Deon giving match ball to Tesni. Another great rally and again the same outcome, match to Tesni, loud applause for both ladies for what was a great match.

After the match Deon said “Tesni is a great player and has lots of potential, hope she sticks with the same attitude throughout her squash career, some people forget to enjoy it and that's always a key thing. I enjoyed the match and the crowd were great supporters”

A great weekend of squash from everyone, all the grades had some great and memorable matches. In the ‘B’ event Tej Saran beat Joel Makin in the Final, in the ‘C’ event Emyr Evans, brother of Tesni, took the spoils after beating Jason Gollaglee and in the ‘D’ event an all Newport Squash Club final with Dylan Banks edging Daniel Bergin 3 – 2 in the final, a great show of squash from both players, the future is bright for these juniors.

In the Over Age events Paul Johnson beat Jason Burgon in the Over 35 final, and in the Over 45’s Richard Murphy added another title to his 2011 collection after beating Mark Huxtable in the final.

Photos are available online at https://picasaweb.google.com/orangesquash2010

Videos from the event are available at http://www.youtube.com/WELSHSQUASH

Words From Damian Burgess Press Officer, Squash Wale

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