GODSHILL squash player Amelie Haworth showed her star quality at one of the biggest and most prestigious international events in the sport — the British Junior Open.
Going into the tournament as a joint ninth seed, the 17-year-old came a superb 14th from 64 of the top-ranked players from across Europe and around the world.
Amelie went into the five-day tournament, run by England Squash and held at Birmingham Uni and the Edgbaston Priory Club, in top form having won both the British Junior Championships U17 girls' title and the Women’s Nordic Junior Open in Sweden in October, and was runner-up at the Women’s English Championship, in Exeter, in November.
The former Ryde School student, now at top school, Millfield, in Somerset, competed in the U19 category, the most senior of the junior age categories.
Amelie, one of the youngest in the U19 category, won her first round match against Hayeon Kim, of South Korea, 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-3), and beat Alyx Kelleher, of Wales, by the same scoreline (11-9, 12-10, 11-4).
In the last 16, Amelie faced third-seeded Aira Azman, of Malaysia, and lost 3-0 (3-11, 8-11, 5-11) in a tough match.
In the ninth to 16th place play-offs, Amelie lost a close match 3-2 (6-11 11-8 11-7 7-11 3-11) against Noor Megahed, of Egypt.
The result showed how much Amelie had closed the gap in standard, having lost to the same player 3-0 when they last met competitively three years ago.
After play-off opponent Hana Ismail, also of Egypt, withdrew due to injury — a 3-0 walkover awarded to Amelie — she lost 3-1 (11-9, 10-12, 8-11, 3-11) to South African, Savannah Ingledew.
Following the English National Championships at end of next month, Amelie will be representing England in the European Individual Championships and the European Team Championships, in Zurich, Switzerland, in April.
The talented teenager — coached by top Island player Adam Dominey, Tim Vail, from Chichester, and Ian Thomas, of Millfield School — then goes on to compete in the World Junior Individual Championships and the World Junior Team Championships, held in Melbourne, Australia, in July.
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