91社区破解版

Squash Yukon held their annual Yukon Open tournament this past weekend.

The Star stopped by Better Bodies Saturday afternoon to check out the action, which included players from out of the territory.

In an all-91社区破解版 match, Justin Johnston edged Jordan Barker three games to two in the Open category in a highly competitive match.

Johnston and Barker had dropped down to a lower bracket after losing earlier in the tournament.

鈥淚t was awful!鈥� joked Barker as he went by.

Johnson said 鈥淚t was a battle of strategies and it was a lot of fun.

鈥淚鈥檓 glad it went the distance. A great run. I enjoyed playing Jordan throughout the year.

鈥淲e know each other鈥檚 strategies quite a bit and that makes for some pretty tight matches between us.鈥�

Johnston said he鈥檚 played at the club for four years and 12 in total.

鈥淚 love the tournaments here. They鈥檙e so much fun. Everybody鈥檚 supporting everybody.鈥�

Johnston said the key to his victory was persevering through Barker鈥檚 strategies.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a very strategic player, so, just grinding it out.鈥�

Johnston added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great tournament, great weekend with a bunch of great people.鈥�

Meanwhile, in the upper Mxed Open bracket, Tomas Edmonds of Kelowna, formerly of Wales, overcame Sam Penner three games to none in one of the semifinals.

Edmonds said the match was 鈥渁wesome.

鈥淚t was pretty physical. The guy I played was very fit, very fast. I had him diving a few times, so I had to keep up with that, but luckily, I felt great today.鈥�

It was Edmonds second match of the day.

鈥淭he first one, I felt a little sluggish.鈥�

Edmonds is a fairly skilled squash player.

鈥淚 was actually supposed to go to the nationals next weekend but six weeks ago tore a tendon in my ankle, so that kind of derailed those plans. But I鈥檓 OK to play, so I thought I鈥檇 come up here for a fun tournament and check it out.鈥�

Edmonds, 25, said he played pretty competitively as a junior in Wales.

鈥淚 reached a high of number five in Wales in the under-16 and was sponsored for a couple years by Harrow (sports equipment maker). Now just play for fun and go to tournaments and have a good time and try to grow the game of squash.鈥�

This is Edmonds first time in the Yukon.

鈥淚 was super-excited to come check out the Yukon. We had a little bit of a tour earlier. It鈥檚 been great.鈥�

A couple of his friends from Kelowna, including fellow competitor Joel Casey, convinced him to come up to the territory.

Edmonds next match was the final against the Squad Yukon tennis pro, Gyanendra Singh, who edged Casey in the other semifinal.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna be tough,鈥� related Edmonds. 鈥淕yan is very fit and very accurate. His lobs and drops are pretty deadly. He鈥檚 very accurate with those.鈥�

Of the match between Singh and Casey, Edmonds said, 鈥淭hat was quite the thriller. I did think Joel was going to get it, but it seems like he ran out of a bit of gas.

鈥淭hey did work hard. It was a good match.鈥�

As for the final, Edmonds said, 鈥淚鈥檒l try my best.鈥�

Squash Yukon president Stuart Macmillan said the tournament was 鈥渇antastic.鈥�

He said there were 60 participants of all ages in the tournament.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see folks come from out of town. It鈥檚 nice to play different people and it鈥檚 nice to see the skills other folks have. Part of growing the squash community is bringing people from different places together to play the game.鈥�

There were five divisions: Mixed Open, Mixed A, Mixed B, Mixed C and a Youth division.

Of the Open division, Macmillan said, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e putting on quite a show this weekend.鈥�

Finley Armstrong came in from Yellowknife to compete in the A division.

鈥淗e was here last year,鈥� recalled Macmillan.

Of returning out-of-towners like Casey, Macmillan said, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e ambassadors for squash in the Yukon. They talk it up and they bring their crew with them, so it鈥檚 great.鈥�

Macmillan said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to grow squash as part of the sports tourism in the territory. The more people we can get to come up and see the area and play the game here, the more we can hope to see that happen more often.鈥�

Macmillan added, 鈥淚 encourage people if they鈥檙e interested, give it a try. Just connect with our coach, Gyandendra. We do have free 鈥楪ive Squash a Try鈥� days. You can bring the kids and try hitting the ball around and see if it鈥檚 something you鈥檇 like to pursue.鈥�

Complete results from the tournament can be found on the Squash Yukon Facebook page.