East Glos Junior Mavericks shine at the Platinum English Junior Championships
By Fiona Geaves, East Glos Squash Performance Coach
East Glos Mavericks players Daniel Stevenson (BU13) and Matthew Hong Ki Leung (BU17) delivered outstanding performances at the Platinum English Junior Squash Championships in Nottingham last weekend, showcasing resilience, quality, and competitive maturity.
Daniel produced a landmark result by finally defeating England’s #1, Logan Wilstrop, on his sixth attempt after many close encounters.
In what was widely regarded as the best performance of his junior career, Daniel showed exceptional composure and tactical awareness. Trailing for much of the opening game, he problem-solved brilliantly to edge it 11–9, before increasing the pressure and taking full control to close out an impressive 3–0 victory and reach his first platinum final.
(L) Daniel with his trophy (R) Daniel and Matthew
On the spectacular glass court, Daniel faced the experienced Ben Lamond. The opening two games were tight, with Ben using the front and back of the court well. Daniel responded superbly in the third, lifting his intensity and shot quality to take it 11–8, but Ben regrouped to win the match 3–1.
Matthew, competing in his first year at U17s and seeded 3/4, pushed top seed Luke Macbride to his limits in the semi-final, particularly in a hard-fought second game where Matthew extended rallies intelligently and forced Luke to work extremely hard for every point.
Had Matthew levelled the match at 1–1, the momentum was clearly shifting, with Luke appearing to do more of the physical work as the rallies lengthened. Luke dug deep to close out the second game 11–8 before eventually taking the match 3–0.
In the 3/4 playoff, Matthew faced fellow 3/4 seed George Barker in a thrilling battle, saving two match balls and showing excellent retrieval, variety, and mental toughness before narrowly losing 15–13 to finish fourth.