Report by Damian Burgess, press officer with Wales Squash and Racketball
On the weekend of the January 4 and 6, 2013, more than 115 players came to the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff for the record entry Dunlop Welsh National Squash Championships. With over 200 matches over the three days it was busy but enjoyable for everyone involved.
The crowds at the squash courts of the Sport Wales National Centre were in great number, from the first matches on Friday evening to the finals on Sunday evening. There were also 1,000 people watching online over the weekend.
The online streaming was a massive success on the weekend with 45 live viewers for the finals on Sunday afternoon. From the Valleys to Vancouver, from Caernarfon to Cape Town, a worldwide and local audience.
In the Women’s A event Tesni Evans won her second National title in three years beating Deon Saffery in the final 3-1. The pair, who have contested the last two finals, produced some great squash in front of a hundred strong audience. Tesni won the first game but was pegged back by Deon in the second game; in the final two games Tesni controlled the ‘T’ and the pace of the game.
After the match Tesni, who won her first title back in 2011, said “Im really happy with the win today, to be National Champion again is a great feeling and I’m very proud. I enjoyed the whole weekend, what a great atmosphere, thanks you to everyone who supported me on the weekend.”
In the men’s final Caerphilly’s Peter Creed, the three-time National Champion made it four Championships in a row after beating Scott Fitzgerald who had to retire in the second game through injury.
Peter started strong and fast making Scott move to every corner, Peter who had the easier path to the final and had not dropped a single game on the weekend looked fresh and was on to every shot in an instant. Midway through the second game Scott was forced to retire after conceding to his groin injury that had nearly ruled him out of the Championships all together.
The fourth title for Creed makes him only the second person to win four in a row after David Evans, who won eight titles from 1994 to 2001.
After the match Peter said: “Very happy to make it four national titles to my name – a long way to David Evans’ record but you have to start somewhere. Really pleased with my form at the moment and this holds me in good form for my next trip to the States to play some PSA events.
“Thank you to everyone who came to watch this weekend, fantastic atmosphere and thanks to everyone online who was supporting too, my sponsor and obviously to my parents for all their support over the years.”
Thanks to everyone for a fantastic weekend of squash, thank you to our sponsors, our event staff who worked tirelessly all weekend, our live stream team, to Ryan Chard (who also played the weekend) for all the photos and to all the players and supporters for attending the event. We hope to see you all at the 2014 event.