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S P O R T A N D C O - C U R R I C U L A R
Squash British Junior Open Championship
Yusuf, L4E
We arrived in Birmingham on the evening ofWednesday 1 January to take part in the British Junior Open Championships. I had
trained hard for this tournament all year as it is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. Going into the tournament
I was seeded to finish between 5th and 8th position out of 128 boys drawn in the U15 category from around the world.The main
venue was the University of Birmingham which is where my matches were played.
My first game was against the England
number 7, Sonny Flint which I won 3-0. My
next match was against a top player from
Germany, Denis
Igelbrink.Weplayed the
game, which I won 3-0 comfortably, on
the main glass show court. The same day, I
played my next round against the Pakistani
number 3, Anas Ali Shah who again I beat
3-0 in a very long drawn out game.
This win took me into the quarter finals.
This is where I had hoped to finish.
Already satisfied having reached this far I
was drawn against Yuvraj Wadhwani, the
Indian number 1 and 3/4 seed for the
tournament. I was definitely not expected
to beat Yuvraj and I knew it wasn’t going
to be easy but I wasn’t going to give up.
I started off well and then suddenly lost
my focus. I played up and down; the game
ended up being a lot tougher than it should have been but, to
everyone’s surprise, I pulled it off and I beat him 3-1.That was a
close call
I found myself suddenly in the semi-finals of the British Junior
Open. I couldn’t believe that I had got this far and nor could
anyone else. In the semis I was up against the much stronger,
experienced Pakistani number 1, Muhammad Ammad, who had
thrashed me two years earlier in the first round of the British
Junior Open when I was playing in the boys’ U13 category.
Ammad had taken out the number 1 seed in one of the earlier
rounds and was expected to win the tournament. I was very
nervous but the earlier win against Yuvraj gave me a lot of
confidence and I knew that if I played smart I had a good
chance. Our match took place on Sunday on the main glass
court. Luckily, I played my best squash so far. I ended up beating
him 3-0. I was ecstatic; I couldn’t believe it. No one thought that
I would get into the finals of the British Junior Championships.
I found myself surrounded by a crowd of people wanting to
congratulate me as I came off court.The England coaches were
there, the England squash press interviewed me. I had barely
recovered from the win when I needed to prepare myself
mentally and physically for the final.
The final took place on the afternoon of Monday 6 January. I
played Muhammed Humza Khan, a very skilful player also from
Pakistan. Humza had beaten a top Egyptian player in his semi-final
and hadn’t dropped a single game throughout the tournament.
On Monday morning I felt quite nervous going into my match, but
I wanted to leave it all on the court. I had the whole of England
behind me, supporting me, but sadly I underperformed and wasn’t
able to show the Pakistani number 2 what I was capable of. I
lost in three games and I was extremely disappointed with my
performance. I was gutted to have played like that, but he was a
very strong player and it wouldn’t have been easy: it never is. He
deserved it much more than I did. But one thing I do know though
and that is that I am going to come back stronger next year.
I played my best squash
so far. I ended up beating
him 3-0. I was ecstatic
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Y U S U F