08 Feb 2016
Lee on Solent, 8 February 2016. Aspire Academy graduate Umair Zaman was Aspire’s best performer at the ‘Junior Open’ that took place between February 5 and 7 in Lee on Solent, England. He finished a commendable 9th position in an event featuring most of the top Under 19 juniors in the UK. After losing to 3rd seeded Adam Corcoran in the round of 16 Umair won all of his remaining matches in a gruelling weekend of squash.
Grade 10 student-athlete Hamad Al-Amri managed to win his opening match in the Under 17 category and played some good squash in his last 16 match against 5th seed Joe Blackmur. Although he eventually went down in 4 games he demonstrated that he can compete with the better juniors of his age group when he implements a more structured and patient game plan. In his final match of the tournament Hamad managed to recover a 2 games to 1 deficit to win in 5 and take 13th place.
In the Under 15 age group Waleed Zaman and Rashid Al-Harib put up a good fight against older and higher ranked opposition. Rashid unfortunately drew the number one seed and eventual tournament winner Jared Carter and was knocked out in the first round of the event in straight games. Waleed managed to win his opening match to reach the last 16 but he found the going tough in the next round and was also knocked out in three games.
RESULTS OF ASPIRE PLAYERS AT LEE ON SOLENT ‘JUNIOR OPEN’:
| NAME |
CATEGORY |
FINISHING POSIITON |
| UMAIR ZAMAN |
U19 |
9th |
| HAMAD AL-AMRI |
U17 |
13th |
| WALEED ZAMAN |
U15 |
16th |
| RASHID AL-HARIB |
U15 |
25th |