UKAEA Handicap - Season 2004-2005 - 02&03/10/04

A good turnout of players engulfed Thurso Squash Club to take part in the opening tournament of the season, sponsored by UKAEA Dounreay. This Open Knockout Handicapped trophy takes place over two days, brings a wide variety of players to the scene and contains a main prize winner plus a plate trophy for competitors eliminated in the first round.

Young Louis Morrill has been out of the game of squash for a short period, preferring to nurture his skills on Badminton - but, on returning to the yellow dot ball game he has shown some excellent skills, extra fitness and a deft touch around the court. With all of these attributes in hand, and a handicap that will have to be reviewed, he bombarded his way through the field to lift the main title of the the weekend.

En-route to the final, he dispatched of another player who has just recently come back into the sport, Steve Spargo. Unfortunately, Steve, a keen golfer, ran out of ideas but chased down every point, leaving him wishing he was on the course having a quiet stroll.

Debutant, James Mackay, was the surprise package of the weekend as he only started playing squash about two months previous to this tournament - but, with his 'have-a-go' attitude, moving one round further was a bonus and added to his learning phase. James, booked his place in the final, which could've gone to either player, with a smart drop in the final game against, Alan Scott.

Due to all of the exertions over the weekend, James just didn't have anything left in his tanks to compete with Louis, and the youngster cruised to a 2-0 victory and lift the UKAEA trophy. Excellent performances by both and look forward to seeing more of the same, in the near future.

Brian Farmer had a tough task on his hands and had to beat three county players, in the space of five hours, to lift the Plate Trophy.

For starters he dispatched of Donald Pollard in a tight battle with many outbursts passed onto the official due to hard fought points but the handicap difference was just too much for Donald to pull back.

Les Mackay was next for the Farmer treatment, in the semi-final. With Les letting slip a couple of simple points in the final game, as usually happens in this style of match where there is a large difference in handicap, it was to haunt him as the match finished with Brian going into the final by one point.

The final, against James Henderson, finished earlier than expected, maybe due to the tiredness and exhaustion exerted over the past couple of days. Brian found a killer serve, high and tight to the wall into his opponents back hand which gained a majority of his points needed to lift the trophy.

Thanks to UKAEA for their continuing sponsorship of this tournament as it is a well attended and popular event.

Photos

ALL Prize Winners

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