Nordic Junior Squash Open 2022: results
The international squash competition Nordic Junior Squash Open (October 6 - 9, 2022) ended in Malmö, Sweden. The eighth annual super series tournament gathered 319 juniors at the territory of two clubs - Hyllie Sportcenter and The Club Malmoe.
Athletes from Ukraine won two medals: Dmytro Shcherbakov (BU19) took an honorable second place, and Nestor Saplashenko (BU11) took the third.
Dmytro Shcherbakov, the multiple prize-winner of European tournaments, the second seed, achieved another great international success. For Dmytro, this is the second tournament in Sweden and the first silver in this tournament. In the new season of 2022, for the first time in Shcherbakov's sports career, the prize-winner's title in the under-19 category will be added to the championship regalia.
The captain of the junior team consistently beat his opponents with a score of 3:0 in the first two rounds and worked hard on the second day of the competition to reach the final. It is worth noting that the game against the Bulgarian [5/8]Philip Georgiev and the Irishman [3/4]Sean Murphy seemed extremely energy-consuming. The game with the latter lasted 44 minutes, but still with a score of 3:2 (8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 1-11, 3-11) Shcherbakov took his own. Unfortunately, in the final Dmytro could not beat the Irishman Dylan Moran, who was extremely motivated to "revenge" for his compatriot. The game ended with the score 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.
Nestor Saplashenko, the youngest participant of the tournament (category under 11 years), worked hard to conquer the Swedish courts. Currently, the protege of Squash Club Bulgaria took bronze for the first time at international competitions. For Nestor, this is the second tournament at the European level, let us remind you that at the debut Dutch Junior Open 2022, the junior took ninth place.
This time the athlete was really in great form, he managed to beat equal seeded opponents and even the second seeded Jan Jašek in the group stage with a score of (9-11, 7-11, 9-11). Our squash player Beniamin Morzyc, the third seed from Poland, slightly spoiled the streak of victories, who beat Nestor with a score of 3:1 and took the first place in the group. What was the general surprise when in the final meeting with the first-seeded Riko Hendrik Paavel Saplašanko defeated the favorite of the tournament, beating him with a score of 3:0 (3-11, 4-11, 3-11).
A total of eight squash players from Ukraine performed in Sweden. Junior girls from Dnipro entered the top 10 according to the results of the matches played: [5/8]Anna Tarasova (GU13), [2]Milena Velychko (GU17) and [5/8]Sofia Zrazhevska (GU17). The girls finished fifth, fifth and seventh respectively. Shcherbakov's younger brother Yehor took eighth place, the squash player played in the category of boys up to 13 years old.
The games ended less successfully for our boys, unfortunately, Orest Saplashenko in the under-15 category and Maxim Tokar, a member of the junior national team, in the under-17 category took 29th and 24th place, respectively.
