Edmonton Open - Squash 2023
A note from Pete Goodings - RGC Head Squash Pro on The 2023 Edmonton Open Squash Event:
“Wow - what an amazing weekend here at the Squash courts this weekend! If you weren't able to play in this event or make it down to watch, then here's what you missed.
The Edmonton Open, sponsored by Lexus of Edmonton & BKY Technologies had 4 full 16-player draws in the Men's I-IV categories and a Round Robin for the Women's. Some amazing Squash was on display right from the first matches on Friday evening and it also saw a bunch of our junior players starting tremendous runs in the event.
2 RG juniors contested the Womens final, and it was Harper Mundy-Kloberdanz taking the title with some very impressive shot selection and court coverage, defeating Eden-Bradley Taubner 3-0, and Sky Bradley-Taubner also impressed in an earlier round against her sister. Some definite ones to watch in the future for sure.
Another RG junior, Alp Zahedzadeh had a tremendous tournament, winning the Men's Division IV, getting better in every match and playing some fantastic line and length in the final to totally control his opponent. Alp has been working hard on his fitness and it's starting to really pay off!
Junior, Taylor Garth was up against Jason Braun in the Men's Division III final and Jason should ideally have been in the Men's Division II event, but with him being based in Grand Prairie and his Club Locker rating not being what it should, it's hard for him to find competitive matches and so he was too strong for Taylor, neutralizing everything the youngster threw at him. Taylor started to get to grips with Jason's accuracy by the end of the 3rd, but it was sadly too little, too late and even though it went to a tie breaker, Jason quickly closed it out before Taylor could get the game.
Nadr Johma prevailed in the Men's Division II final, locking horns with RG member Rick Hatfield - the two having played each other a few times in the past and know each other's games very well, so this was always going to be a tough battle. The scoreline and the match didn't disappoint, and a very attritional match ensued with Nadr taking the spoils, 11-9 in the 5th.
Evan Watson had a good run in the Men's Division I and handily won the Consolation Final taking 3 scalps on the way who all have higher ratings than him and Evan is starting to play some really mature Squash. Momo Elserafy also got to the Semi-finals but didn't quite have the engine or maturity to compete with the # 1 seed Alex Schere, but at only 15 years old he's already a true force to be reckoned with - I wonder how far he can go in the coming years!?
And so, onto the Men's Division I final and what a hotly talked about final it was. Prior to the match, all the expectant chatter was about Alex Scherer's supreme fitness that was going to prevail against RG's very own Head Pro, Pete Goodings. While Pete has all the shots, his impatience and lesser conditioning would be the difference in the end - or that's the story that everyone was expecting, however it didn't quite play out that way. The first 2 games were extremely close, and they went to tie breakers with Pete taking both games 12-10. The 3rd and 4th saw Pete make a bunch of errors, effectively handing Alex the games and the stage was set for a tough tussle in the 5th and a majority of the crowd were expecting Alex to take the final game with his superior fitness. Pete, however, was having none of it, digging deep to find some reserves of energy that again propelled the match into a 3rd tie breaker with neither player showing any signs of stopping their 'chase' to EVERY ball. With both players having 2 match balls each, in the end it was purely down to mental strength and the pendulum swung in Pete's favor, closing the door on Alex at the 2nd time of asking, taking the 5th and final game 14-12 and with it, the title of 2023 Edmonton Open Champion! A fantastic end to a great overall event.
Thanks so much to our sponsors, Bruce Kirkland from Lexus of Edmonton and Troy Young from BKY Technologies. Without your continued support and passion for our sport we could not put on events such as these and the club - the players and everyone involved with the event owe you a huge debt of gratitude! Also, all the spectators who came out to watch during the event as well as all the referees and volunteers who all made such a huge difference to the success of the overall mechanics of the event - THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Last, but by no means least I want to give a HUGE thanks to the support staff at the RG (front desk team, housekeeping, Maintenance, Sales & Marketing and F & B) - the preparations and teamwork all came together so well to make this a seamless event run like clockwork and we look forward to next year's event when we hope to re-launch our Pro element and bring back pro squash to dovetail into the amateur event.”
For the list of results please use the following link: https://clublocker.com/tournaments/14225/entrants