Whanganui's Aria Bannister moves to NZ U11 No2 seed after North Island squash championship performance

Whanganui' Aria Bannister (left) mixes it with NZ U19 #1 Kaitlyn Watts after finishing runner-up in the girls' U11 grade at the North Island Junior Age Group Squash Championships in Wellington.

Whanganui Squash Club's sole junior representative Aria Bannister 10, returned from the North Island Junior Age Group Championship in Wellington as the runner up in the girls under-11 division.

She went in to the event seeded number 2 behind Auckland's Grace Spencer, who is a D grade player, a high level for someone aged 10.

Bannister defeated Spencer's team mate and number 3 seed Justine Pausch 3/1 in the semi final and lost a very tight final 3 games to 1 to Spencer.

Going in to the event Bannister's national ranking was no.5, but recent successes propelled her to number 2.

The event attracted over 180 children from all over New Zealand from the under-11 to the under-19 age groups including the girls and boys New Zealand teams travelling to Chennai, India this week for the world junior champs.

The tournament was played at three different venues, including the Mana and Tawa Squash Clubs and on the all-glass court at the Arena in Porirua, the stadium where the Central Pulse are based and where Bannister played her semi and final matches.

At the event she went up to an E1 grading. This weekend she's playing in the Hawera B grade tournament and the big focus this year is to train for the New Zealand Junior Championships in Auckland in October.