With 69 entries for this years Army Individual Squash Championships Open Event and the concurrent Under 25, Over 40 and Ladies competitions the three-day Squash package delivered by the Army Squash Committee, Army Sport Control Board and Squash4All proved to be a great success and a chance for players to push for Army selection this year.
Using state of the art scheduling and seeding software, the first few days saw players compete in at least three matches, from Novice to Elite level. It was encouraging to see a number of new players and a pleasure to watch the ‘seasoned pros’ in action. Finals day proved the accuracy of seedings with top seeds across the board making it into the respective match to define the Ladies, Over 40, Under 25 and Mens Open Elite Champions. Paul Carter from England Squash presented the following trophies:
Ladies Champion: Lt Col Yvette Ashman
O40s Champion: Lt Col (Ret’d) Phil Ashman
U25 Champion: Capt Josh Brownlow
Open Champion: Capt Sam Miller
Full results are available here
The Winchester Squash and Fitness Club also hosted the Army Squash Annual Dinner 2020 on the second evening which was a chance to present awards in the company of sponsors Fujitsu and MPCT, players and supporters. The following annual awards were announced by Lt Gen Urch:
Young Player of the Year 2019 Lt Martin Thompson
Most Improved Player 2019 Cpl Joe Nicholson
Leakey Trophy Winner 2020 SSgt Dean Boys
The Dinner finished with Army Squash President Lt Gen Urch leading the applause for the dedication and commitment of Lt Col (Retd) Phil and Lt Col Yvette Ashman over the recent years. Phil has left the Army to work in the Army Sport Control Board and Yvette will hand over the role of Army Squash Chairman to Lt Col Rich Green from April this year.
A photo gallery of the championships and Dinner Night will be available soon on this website. Congratulations to all who took part, any constructive criticism or feedback is welcome. Pse email any comments on how we can continue to improve facilitation of Army Squash events to the Administration Officer at the following email address: cwilliamson@ascb.uk.com
Senior team players will be representing the Army at the UKAF Squash Team Championships in Portsmouth on 6-7 Feb 20 and the next and final Army Squash event for the year will be the Inter Units Squash Championships in Aldershot 10-12 Mar 20. Keep your eyes peeled for the Admin Instruction which will be available from early February.