Mixed fortunes for trio

Amongst them were three players from Durham and Cleveland. Nunthorpe's Josh Harris (under-15s), Aycliffe's Lee Skinner (under-19s) and under-11 Danny Hockbourn from Norton played with mixed fortunes in the four-day tournament. Joss, playing in his first international event, was the unluckiest player of the three, losing his first round match to the very strong Ahmad Abdullah from Kuwait and due to injury and withdrawal having to wait for two days to play again going down to a nationally ranked English player. Plenty of experience was gained to compensate for his lack of matches and Josh kept everyone entertained with his non-stop humour and enthusiasm.

Last year's Scottish quarter-finalist at under-17 age group, Lee Skinner, found being one of the youngest competitors at the older age group much tougher and lost his second round match to a mediocre Chession Gertler from the USA. Punishment for an out of sorts performance was a meeting with the German No.1 and European ranked No.2 Jens Schoor who took the first 2 games with ease. A fight back in the third game could not stop a 3/0 German blitzkrieg, which left Lee to produce his best performance of the competition beating the Irish No.3 Brian Healy 3/0. This was a significant win as Healy was seeded 9/16 in the tournament and ranked higher than Lee in the European rankings.

Result of the tournament was ten-year-old Danny Hockbourn's runner-up position in the boys under 11 event. Although only eight players competed in this competition the players came from all around the world with Danny beating Fahad Alkandari from Kuwait and Ryosei Kobayashi from Japan both 3/0 to set-up a thrilling final against fellow Englishman Oliver Holland. At 7/7 in the first game Danny returned five thunderous drives from Holland to win the point with a fantastic shot of his own leaving the packed crowd and both players amazed. Winning the first game 9/7 Danny never managed to reproduce the same drive in the remaining games allowing Holland a 3/1 win but both players were a superb advert for junior squash and a credit to their respective Counties. Despite an official warning to father Mark Hockbourn for over enthusiasm, the match was played in excellent spirit and both camps can look forward to many more battles between both players over the coming years.

Four days after the Scottish Open the British Open took place in Sheffield with Norton's Laura Settersfield, Aycliffe's Lee Skinner and Graham Johnson all competing in the five-day event, with over 500 of the world's top junior players from 66 countries around the world. Hartlepool teenager Laura Settersfield produced the result of the tournament when she defeated the England ranked no.15 Marie Rose 3/0 in a first round shock win. Reward in the second round came in the form of Pamela Hathway from Germany who was ranked no.5 in the December European rankings and was runner-up in the German Open last May. A back injury sustained in the hard fought match contributed of a 3/0 defeat, but the County under 15 and 17 champion had a wonderful weekend.

Lee Skinner emulated his Scottish Open results losing to the French No.1 Verseille Fabien and the Welsh No.5 Rhodri Hughes before saving his best performance to the end when scoring a 3/0 win over the Mexican Jose Juan Colin. Aycliffe teenager Graham Johnson had his best ever run at the under 17 age group when, after losing his first round game against the Canadian Andrew Boumford had two fantastic wins including a gutsy 44 minute 5th game win against Ian Chappell from Staffordshire.

Hambleton Ales North Yorkshire League

Championship front runners Bedale and Wensleydale both won key matches in Division One.

Bedale's 3-0 away win over Thirsk kept them on top, seven points ahead of Wensleydale who defeated Northallerton 2-1 at home.

Third placed Harrogate Squash II are now 14 points adrift of the leaders while Harrogate Squash I are in fourth spot but 28 points down the line.

Phil Martin led the Bedale charge at Thirsk, beating Steve Snodgrass 8-10 5-9 9-0 9-3 9-0 in a remarkable comeback. Dave Smiley hit back to topple Steve Lacey 8-10 8-10 9-2 9-5 9-1 with Alan Pierson registering the clean sweep for Bedale with 9-7 9-5 8-10 9-3 scorelines over Mike Pointon.

Wensleydale's important victory over Northallerton returned the following scorelines.

Wensleydale names first: Keith Parlour beat Keith Johnson 9-5 6-9 9-2 9-0; Nick Brown beat Chris Hill 9-3 9-0 9-4; Robert Dent lost to Peter Pinkney 4-9 1-9 6-9.

Overall Wensleydale teams are enjoying a successful season. In addition to their first team challenging for the First Division title the second stringers top Division Two with Wensleydale IV leading the way in Division Three.

In Division Two mid-table RAF Leeming have been boosted by appearances this season by George Webster. The 21-year-old has been taking some razor sharp victories.

And that's not surprising when his pedigree includes being England under-14 No1 and the country's No3 at under-16 and under-17 levels.

Webster's latest victim was Gary Hatch (Knaresborough) by 9-1 9-0 9-1 scorelines. Leeming took a 2-1 overall win.

Webster's stay is unlikely to be lengthy. He is set to transfer to Wales shortly.

Meanwhile league officials have issued a warning about Northallerton's ranking order after Peter Pinkney played below Chris Hill in Northallerton's 2-1 defeat against Wensleydale.

League secretary Chris Lennox says a repeat will mean loss of points being imposed.

Division One: Wensleydale 2 (Keith Parlour, Nick Brown) Northallerton 1 (Peter Pinkney); Thirsk 0 Bedale 3 (Phil Martin, Dave Smiley, Alan Peirson).

Division Two: Knaresborough III 1 (Peter Bottomley) RAF Leeming 2 (George Webster, Phil Hopkins); Wensleydale III 0 Wensleydale II 3 (Iain Garth, Jim Forbes, Richard Phillips); Bedale II 2 (Dave Horner, Mike Richardson) Catterick Garrison 1 (Rob Hammond); Harlow II 1 (Dave Allenby) Boroughbridge 2 (Simon Robinson, Joe Royle); Harrogate Squash III 3 (Adam Hughes, Ian Woodhead, Steve Gibson) Thirsk II 0.

Divsion Three: Bedale IV 1 (Geoff Coles) Harrogate Squash V 2 (James Styrin, Peter Cronin); Harrogate Squash IV 2 (Ian Simmons, John Elsworth) Pateley Bridge II 1 (Dave Mann); Knaresborough III 0 Wensleydale IV 3 (John Chilton, Mark Southcott, Richards Sanderson).

Kall Kwik Harrogate and District League

Ainter-club battle has dented hopes of a top flight championship success.

Harrogate Squash second team dropped from third to fourth place in the title race after losing 2-1 to Harrogate Squash first team.

Simon Myring was the only winner for the seconds, beating Tony Nowakowski 7-9 9-7 9-5 9-2 in the first string encounter.

The first team, who are languihsing well behind their second team, secured victory thanks to wins by Martin Wickenden and Stuart Macdonald. Wickenden defeated Steve Whiteley 9-6 10-9 9-3 with Macdonald beating Bob Peacock 9-5 9-6 1-9 3-9 9-6.

Harrogate Squash II are now on 97 points in fourth place with seven wins in 12 matches. Third are Ilkley (98 points); second Adel (104) and Chapel Allerton top, also on 104 but with one more victory than Adel.

Division One: Harrogate Squash 2 (Martin Wickenden Stuart Macdonald) Harrogate Squash II 1 (Simon Myring); Harlow 2 (Ross Kneller Steve Smith) Collingham 1 (Charlie Wardroper); Nomads 2 (Andy Hall Richard Leonard) Moortown 1 (Nick Jezeph); Adel 1 (Steve Glynn) Ilkley 2 (Gareth Hutchinson, Phil Maunsell).

Division Two: Collingham II 1 (Nick Johnson) Harlow II 2 (Neil Chambers, Roger Calvert); Ilkley III 1 (Martin Chapman) Otley 2 (Matt Wood, Steve Thackwray); Moortown II 2 (John Kay, Carl Knowles) Bedale 1 (Alan Peirson); Boroughbridge 3 (Simon Robinson, Joe Royle, Colin Leftly) Harlow III 0; Harrogate Squash IV 2 (David Duncalf, Adam Hughes) Harrogate Squash III 1 (Steve Gibson).

Division Three: Collingham IV 2 (Andrew Widdison, Stephen Widdison) Collingham III 1 (Ed Dabrowski); Knaresborough III 3 (Andy McMillan, Phil Smelt, Chris Robinson) Moortown IV 0; Otley II 1 (Robert Field) Boroughbridge II 2 (Phil Strong, Alistair Hogg); Moortown III 2 (Mark Westmancoat, Steve Morley) Pateley Bridge 1 (Chris Lennox); Harlow IV 3 (Martyn Hall, Dave Allenby, Jim McGuinness).

* The Widdison family are set to make a piece of squash history in the Kall Kwik Harrogate and District League by fielding a father, son and daughter to complete a team for Collingham.

Dad Steve Widdison, 16-year-old daughter Nicola and 14-year-old Andrew are poised to make up the three-strong team before the end of the season.

At some time this season dad and either Nicola or Andrew have been in the side, but the full family house has yet to be completed.

Dad returned to the sport after an absence of 30 years to coach his children. But once they made such rapid progress the squash bug began to bite again.

So he donned the tracksuit and decided to get himself fit to play and join them in competitive matches.

When they do step on court as a complete team it will be the first time a father, daughter and son have formed a complete line up in the Kall Kwik Harrogate and District League for Collingham.