CSSC Squash Singles Championships 2008

The eighth Civil Service National Singles Squash Championship was once again held at Nottingham’s famous Squash Club in the Park Estate. Despite the dismal and damp conditions outside, the event attracted over 40 squash players of all standards from all parts of the country.

Tim on top form to make it 2 in a row

In the Men’s A event the current Champion and no. 2 seed Tim Burrell was in a determined mood having recently won his County Closed Squash Tournament. This determination and form however was to be severely tested by newcomer Brendon Callaghan in only the second round of the competition. The match lasted close to one hour and was eventually won by Tim but only after many long and tortuous rallies. The prize of this victory for Tim was a semi-final place against last year’s finalist Merv Davies. Merv who had recently reached the grand old age of 40 must have seen this as his last chance to add another title to his belt and consequently was not going to take any prisoners. The first game saw Merv in awesome form and his power just overcame the deft skills of the defending champion, winning it 10-8. Tim saw the writing on the wall and retaining his composure and touch managed to level the match at 1 1 with a 9-7 win in the second game. Merv came out strongly again in the third and kept his nose in front until at 6-5 his valiant effort faltered when physically he began to tire. Tim took the third 9-6 and then the fourth 9-0 to win a place in the final.
In the other half of the draw the no. 1 seed Marc Aldridge was both injury free and in excellent form, having recently regained his top spot on the CSSC Squash Ladder with wins over all his main rivals. As a consequence Marc breezed his way into the semi-final stage where he met the much improved Adam Curry. Although Marc eventually came through a 3 0 winner he had to overcome some very testing squash edging the first 9-7 and saving game balls in the second before winning this game 10-9 and the third 9-4.
The stage was set for the final between two very ‘in-form’ players. Tim however rose to a different level in the first game and with a combination of touch and power ran Marc ‘ragged’ to take the game 9-2. Marc never lies down easily and in the second game, despite going down 6-0, dragged the game back to 7-8 before finally succumbing 9 7. Undaunted Marc continued his good vein of form keeping his nose in front through the third to take it 9-6. Suddenly Tim started to look fallible. At 5-7 down Tim, with Marc’s movement about court showing no signs of slowing, once again showed the gallery what a class act he is by taking the next four rallies in succession to win the match 3-1 and the title for the second time!
The gallery had enjoyed a fantastic game of squash!
The Men’s third/fourth play-off was won by Adam Curry who beat Mervyn Davies 9-7, 9-8, 9-1, whilst the plate event was won by Darren Nalton for the second year in succession with some fine wins over Brendan Callaghan and Mike Nicholls.

Men’s B, C and D Grade Events

The Men’s B, C and D Grade events were equally fiercely contested with some hard fought matches taking place at all stages. With Plate events following the main draws and coaching arranged during the two days, no players were off court for long.
The Men’s B Grade event was contested between losers in the first round of the A competition and was played in a ‘round-robin’ format between five players. The winner was Phillip Crane with Andrew Raine coming a close second.
The Men’s C and D events were both run as knockouts. The C Grade event was won convincingly by Steve Burnett without his losing a single game. Steve beat Chris Johnstone in the final, whilst Jim Fay won the C Grade Plate. The Men’s D Grade was won by Matthew Thomas who beat Matthew Pease in the final, with Peter Ireland winning the Plate.

Heather helps herself to a fourth Title!

The Ladies event was once again a keenly contested affair with four of the National Civil Service Ladies team competing in it. In her first match last year’s Champion and England International Heather Tweedle overcame a spirited attempt by Carol Stone to de-throne her. Heather had now booked her place for a semi-final clash with Civil Service National Ladies Squash Team Captain Sian Hughes who herself had had to come through a testing first round match against Kay Dalton. Heather however was too strong for Sian and eased her way into a place in her fourth consecutive final.
In the lower half of the draw Helen Townend overcame Cynthia Crane in their first round match whilst Jackie Codman defeated Ruth Kneeshaw to book their semi-final places. Helen however was too good on the day against the valiant play of Jackie and for the second year running found herself in the final.
The final between Heather and Helen produced some excellent quality squash but it was the defending champion who always seemed to be putting the ‘points on the board’. Heather ran through a 9-2, 9-3, 9-2 winner to chalk up her fourth Championship win.
The third place was taken by Jackie Codman who defeated Sian Hughes 3-1 in a closely contested match. The Ladies Plate event, run as a round robin, was won by Kay Dalton with Ruth Kneeshaw in second place.

A great weekend!

The organiser of the Event Linda Parsley acclaimed the 2 day event, which had included coaching, massage treatments and an exhibition match as well as the competition itself, as being a great success and thanked all the participants for their attendance and support. In addition thanks were expressed to Nottingham Squash Club for their excellent facilities and for organising the top quality exhibition of Squash Doubles on the Friday evening when Eddie Charlton and Emma Beddows took on Ong Beng Lee and Declan James in an entertaining 4 set thriller.
The next National Singles Squash Competition for all CSSC members will be held in September 2009 as part of the CSSC Games at Loughborough University and is an event not to be missed!!

A full list of prize winners is shown below: