In the wake of the New Year, everyone back at their first week of school, 18 Junior trekked to the Hudson Racquet Club to compete in the first Provincial Junior Open of 2008.  Two draws were used at the event and entries were capped at 18 to ensure all matches would be finished in a timely manner. 

In the Elite category there were no easy wins.  Marc Richardson (MAA) got his money’s worth battling with Dominique Smith (Hudson Racquet Club) who refused to go down in 3 games, stretching the match to the 5^th to the excitement of the audience.  Similarly Thomas Sinclair (Hudson Racquet Club), down 2 games to 1, against David Baillargeon (Quebec City) managed to squeak past Baillargeon in the 4^th to bring his Semi-Final match to the 5^th.  The excitement between Baillargeon and Sinclair continued through the 5^th game with both players disagreeing with the referee about the score but this changed nothing as the game went to extra points.  Baillargeon squeaked the win in the 5^th after giving up match ball earlier to Sinclair.  Marc Richardson and David Baillargeon were scheduled to play a 4^th match of the day, in a 6 hour period, for the Consolation Final but the toll was a little much and both players decided that their battle would be another day.

In the Novice Consolation, Sebastien Bouclay (West Island) played Derek Laderoute-Vaudrin (Hudson Racquet Club) in another all out 5 set match!  This time Bouclay came off the court in the 5th for an injury time-out after taking a ball in the ear.  Sebastien fed off the fire of being hit and quickly closed the door on Derek in the 5^th to win the Novice Consolation.

In the Novice draw Final, we had the match-up of James Kierans (MAA) and Sebastien Kwasiborski (Hudson Racquet Club).  Kwasiborski started the tournament seeded 9th in a draw of 12 but was determined.  His road to the final had him beat the 8^th seed, 2^nd seed and Patrick Seguin-Morin (Hull) on the path to the finals and 4^th match of the day with James Kierans, #1 seed.   If you expect an easy final you would have been disappointed. The true turning point of the match started in the 4^th with Kwasiborski diving for a ball and in the process injuring his knee.  Sheer determination kept him going and he pulled out the win in the 4^th.  Kwasiborski, limped from the court after the 4^th and flat out denied to default the match.  He continued to play but was bettered by the stronger James Kierans.

In the Elite final Farokh Sarmad (Club Atwater) and Seb Boudreau (Hudson Racquet Club) meet for the second time of the season.  Earlier this year Sarmad defeated Boudreau 3-1 at the Atwater Junior Open.  This time, with home court advantage, Boudreau defeated Sarmad 3-1. 

I’d like to thanks Matt Aussel, Greg Foster, Tristan Holder and the parents who spent the day at the Hudson Racquet club cheering and supporting the kids who came Hudson.  I’d like to express my thanks to Terry McQueston for his support of squash at the Hudson Racquet Club.  Everyone enjoyed Terry’s enthusiasm through the day!

Thank-you
Benjamin Uliana

Samedi 18 mars, deux douzaines de jeunes maniaques du Squash et de jeux videos se présentent au Hudson Racquet Club. Avex deux courts disponibles, le déroulement d'un tel tounoi requiert un minimum d'organisation de la part des organisateurs Darnley Holder et Brenda Sanford.. On opte pour deux ctégories mixtes (-19 et novices) avec un tirage principal et un feed-in consolation qui permet à chacun de rester dans la course jusqu'à concurrence de deux défaites. Bons matchs, excellente bouffe et jeux vidéos excitants. Tous se sont bien amusés, en particuler Anne-Christine Lajoie qui a remporté la finale chez les moins de 19 ans aux dépends de Chris Baker. Geneviève Lessard a terminé troisième grâce à une victoire contre Brad Baker. Nick Taylor a terminé en cinquième position en disposant de Dana Sanford en finale consolation.

Chez les novices, la finale a été remportée par Alex Payne qui a défait le jeune Matthew Aussel. Brandon Bell a vaincu Reuben Dylewski en finale consolation.

Ghislain Lessard

Contrairement au verglas de l'année dernière, la tempête de neige du 7 janvier n'a pas empêché une vingtaine de juniors de participer au premier tournoi de l'année 1999 tenu au Club Hudson.

Toute la journée, la tension était palpable chez les joueurs, et surtout leurs parents, puisqu'il s'agissait du dernier tournoi avant la sélection des équipes féminine et masculine pour les jeux du Canada. Même les caméras de CTV et les journalistes de l'hebdo local étaient présents. Nos athlètes ne sont pas habitués à tant d'attention.

Résultats