Four junior members of Milford Haven squash club took the four and a half hour journey up to Prestatyn along with parents to enter the North Wales Junior Open recently, a competition held over three days which attracted over 100 junior competitors from all over Wales.
Alfie Wheeler (15) from Cardigan, Lloyd and Tomos Edmonds (12 and 15) from Tiers Cross, and Keeron John (13) of Milford Haven, all train at and play for Milford Haven Squash Club out of Milford Haven Leisure Centre, under the watchful eye of coach Pete Crook.
Alfie and Tomos show their paces
The competition was age-categorised, both Alfie Wheeler and Tomos Edmonds had to enter the under 17’s, and both boys won their first round matches convincingly by 3-0. In the quarter final round they were drawn against the number one and two seeds, who proved too strong for both local boys.
This put them in the playoffs but here again they met tough opponents, just losing out, both boys won their next round which put them against each other for seventh and eighth place. This match proved exciting to watch as they knew each other’s game play, which resulted in long rallies and ended with Alfie Wheeler winning in three sets.
Keeron battles very hard against top player
Keeron John entered the under 15’s and had a tough draw from the start against number one seed Lewis Poole, but he put up a great fight against the older player. But Lewis proved why he had been seeded one and eventually, after a long matched, Lewis edged Keeron out.
This left Keeron in the playoffs, and again another hard fought match where Keeron could not quite pull it off, his final match was the seventh and eighth-place playoff. Here he came alive and found really good form and good length shot after shot to win 3-1, ending an excellent seventh overall in the under 15’s.
Lloyd pushes the No 1 seed all the way
Last up was Lloyd Edmonds, who entered the under 13’s and drew the number 1 seed Owen Hayes and what a match they had. Lloyd pushed Owen all the way and although Owen won the match 3-0 the scores were 16/14 11/9 13/11 showing just how close this match really was.
This placed Lloyd in the playoffs and his first match saw him carry on his good form as he took it 3-0 this placed Lloyd in the fifth and sixth-placed playoffs. This match went to a five- setter with Lloyd narrowly losing the fifth set 11/8, placing him 6th overall as a great achievement.
Peter Crook told us:
“The boys did Pembrokeshire and the club proud and playing at this very high level can only enhance their already considerable ability.