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Pembrokeshire's best: James Walters, Chris Barker, Julian Griffiths and Nick Dyer

Welsh Nationals Closed Squash Championships:

 

 
Four of our county’s player James Walters (Milford Haven), Chris Barker (Pembroke), Julian Griffiths (Fishguard) and Nick Dyer (Haverfordwest) ventured to the Squash National Centre at Sofia Gardens Cardiff, to compete in the Welsh National Closed Squash Championships, which was held recently over three days.
 
This is the only Squash Championships where adult club players, masters, junior players and pro players play side by side, as the competition was graded A to F with the top plays meeting in the A draw and an entry of over 100 competitors.
 
All four of our players had to play on Friday evening, so after a hard day’s work they travelled the 100 miles to Cardiff to compete.
 

Chris and Julian battle hard

 
First up was Chris Barker, playing in the E grade category against Alex Jenkins and after a hard fought match Chris was defeated 3-1,which put Chris into the plate competition, where he next played on Saturday and dispatched Craig Poole in three straight games, to put Chris in the plate semi-finals.
He was up against Paul Duffy and was giving away over 30 years to Paul, whose youth showed through in beating Chris in three games.
 
Next up was Julian Griffiths, also in the E grade, who first met Phil Easan and Julian played some great squash and with sheer grit and determination took the match 3-1 to gain entry into the quarter final rounds on Saturday against Jeff Greenslade who proved too strong and won the match 3-0; but a great achievement by Julian in finishing in the top eight E grade players.
 

James and Nick also do well . . .

 
He was followed by James Walters, who made the C grade, first round was against Adil Hussain, James played with intent and was off court in 25 minutes, winning 3-0. In the quarter finals on Saturday James met Jason Jones and again won 3-0 to put him in the last semi-finals, where he played Rhys Luffman
 
 This was a game where James might as well have stayed in bed because he disappointedly could not find either length or nick and lost a winnable match 3-0, but well done to finish top four in the C category.
 
Last up and not on court till 9.20 Friday evening was Nick Dyer, who made the A grade, consisting of the top 16 players and included professional players. In the first round he was up against the formidable Emer Evans and Nick was over 25 years his senior, and although Nick put up a good fight youth showed through again as Emer won 3-0,

 
. . . and Nick wins the B Plate

 
Emer eventually finished third in the tournament, those that lost in the first round dropped into the B grade first round and here Nick was against Adam Evans who proved too strong on the day and won 3-1. Nick was then in the Plate and here Nick excelled, finding great form and control, eventually winning the plate final B grade.
 
 The eventual overall winner in the men’s event was professional player and Welsh Number 1 Peter Creed and again in the ladies’ draw the winner was another professional and Welsh Number 1 Tesni Evans.
 
It was a fantastic long weekend of squash and PembrokeshireSport.co.uk says well done to all our four players who flew the Pembrokeshire Flag with such style.