One hundred players compete in £1K PSA Satellite event
By Mark Toseland, East Glos Squash Manager
On the weekend of 21st to 23rd February, East Glos was honoured to host a £1k men’s and women’s PSA Satellite event, with our home talent vying to lift the title where possible.
The lineup included our resident pros, Will Salter, Tayne Turnock, Carys Jones and Ellie Jones. Tayne successfully navigated his way into the second round to join Will, Ellie and Carys, who had byes into the second rounds.
Will, Carys and Ellie furthered their event by making it into the quarter-finals. Tayne was up against eventual runner-up Heston Malik in the second round and had a tough match, but learning a lot upon reflection.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for our pros, who were up against strong opposition in the quarter-finals, noticeably Will and Carys, putting in five-game battles against eventual tournament winners Conor Moran and Eum Hwayeong. Ellie also had a tough battle with rising Welsh star Ellie Breach.
The graded event was on the same day as the semi-finals and finals. It delivered a thriving and busy environment throughout the whole day. We also had 18 Junior Mavericks taking part, creating two grades of their own, and our top juniors, competing higher up in the grades.
There were some notable wins from our juniors, with Daniel Stevenson winning the D grade with an in-between-the-legs shot to finish his match against Will Awde. Also, Harry Wallace defied his #6 seeding to take the B grade title against the #5 seed, Rory Anderson, also defying his seeding to make the final.
Overall, it was great to see so many competitors participate, with 100 players competing over the entire weekend. Plenty of players came in from local clubs, along with players travelling from South Korea, Japan and Brazil just to play in our competition.
I would also like to thank our event sponsors: Andy Salter of Park Lane Industrial Abseiling, Robin Fisher of Mallams 1788, Paul Wilson of Town & Country Solicitors and Karakal.
This helped support the cost of the prizes and the prize money. We couldn’t have run this event without them, and we are very grateful to have you all a part of such a fantastic club, too.
Final standings (Winners in bold)
- PSA Men’s: Conor Moran (Ire); Heston Malik (Eng)
- PSA Women’s: Eum Hwayeong (ROK); Wai Yhann Au Yeong (ROK)
- A Grade: Sam Hartley (East Glos); Mark Toseland (East Glos)
- B Grade: Harry Wallace (East Glos); Rory Anderson (East Glos)
- C Grade: Mark McNally (Stroud); Charlie Howe (Riverside)
- D Grade: Dan Stevenson (East Glos); Will Awde (East Glos)
- E Grade: Winner – Ben Rolfe; Josh McIlveen (East Glos)
- F Grade: Alice Newby (East Glos); Ben Watts (East Glos)