Squash: Teen pair win titles at national tournament

Natalie Sayes has claimed the North Island Junior Age Group under-11 title.

Abbie Palmer and Natalie Sayes have come home with titles after attending the North Island Junior Age Group Champs at Mitchell Park in Wellington.

Palmer, who plays for Auckland, took out the under-19 girls title comfortably and was in great form prior to the Junior Worlds in the Netherlands.

Palmer barely raised a sweat in winning 11-3, 11-6, 11-1 against Australian Lauren Aspinall in her first match at the Junior Worlds and will now face Hong Kong's Chio Uen Chan.

Sayes, who also plays for Auckland, added the under-11 girls title to the South Island titles she won recently.

Nine Northland juniors travel the event and for a couple of them this was their first taste of a national competition.

The tournament was a success for Northland with eight players finishing in the top 10 of their age groups.

Zoe Dykzeul, making another final after taking out the South Island under-17s the previous weekend, had to settle for second after losing to top seed Anna Hughes in four sets.

Freddie Jameson came third in the under-11 boys, winning a close five-setter in his playoff, to follow his win in the under-11 South Islands Champs division.

Under-17 girls competitor MacKenzie Johnson was defeated in her quarter-final but came back strongly to take out fifth place.

Finn Trimble was knocked out of the under-17 boys division in his quarter-final after losing a tight five-setter.

Sian Duggan competed in the under-19 girls and won the plate division, while Annemarie Holst ended up fifth in the under-15 girls after winning a massive five set battle in her playoff.

Riley-Jack Vette Blomquist and Devlin Gurr were in the under-13 boys division and took out higher seeds in the first round which put them in the final eight. After going down in their quarter-final matches they bounced back to play each other for the fifth and sixth playoff positions, with Vette Blomquist winning the battle.

-To follow Abbie Palmer at the World Junior Squash Championships in Eindhoven, go to http://wsfworldjuniors.com/draws-results/