It has been another busy month on the Junior Pathway, with tournaments at home and abroad and plenty of camps to put the youngsters through their paces.
U19 YONEX 3 Borders International
The first competition of the month saw a third/fourth place finish for Leona Lee in the women’s singles.
Lee beat Yana Sobko of Ukraine in her quarter-final match to reach the semis and secure herself a top four finish, though she was beaten by Chiara Handoyo in the last four.
Lisa Curtin also found good form, making the last eight, but was unable to get past Indonesia’s Aura Ihza Aulia.
In the men’s singles, Ben Hammond came into the competition as a reserve and showcased his talent by reaching the quarter-finals.
Hammond won three matches to make the last eight, where he was beaten by eventual runner-up Ananda Galvani Daniswara in straight sets.
The women’s doubles saw Curtin and Lee lose out in a thrilling quarter-final against German duo Julia Meyer and Antonia Schaller, going down 15-21, 22-20, 15-21.
All results from the tournament can be found here.
Adria Youth International
The U13 and U15 squads travelled to Croatia for a busy load of competition at the end of May with promising results.
Anna Kalathil George and Rajvi Parab were victorious in the U15 girls’ doubles with a three-set win over Jore Kavaliauskaite and Jorune Šalnaite.
The pair came through an all-English clash with Aahna Bhatia and Sia Ashish Pandit in the last four to set them up for another trophy, having won the Quadrangular tournament in Dublin last month.
In a packed U15 mixed doubles category, Jayaditya Kumar and Maria Mitchell claimed silver after an excellent run to the final.
U13s player Ray Malde topped Group 2 of the boy’s singles but lost in the semi-finals to Croatia’s Aleksa Radovanović.
And Sia Ashish Pandit had a similar path, reaching the semi-finals of the U15 girls’ singles.
Camps and training days
Closer to home, there have been a number of training camps to keep the junior pathway players busy.
These have included a physical camp in Buxton, involving no shortage of hill climbing…
There were similar exertions when players gathered in Milton Keynes for physical testing, while late in the month saw the final Discover Training Day of the pathway year take place.
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