Sussex’s top young squash stars head for British Junior Open

Hundreds of the world’s top young players are heading to Birmingham for the five-day tournament, which gets under way this Thursday, January 5.

And as well as top talent arriving in the West Midlands from countries like Egypt, Malaysia, the United States, Australia and Pakistan, a flurry of players will be representing Sussex – including a number with genuine prospects of success.

Among them will be Torrie Malik, the current British Junior Championships title holder from Haywards Heath, who is one of the top seeded English players in the under-19 girls competition, and former British Junior Open winner Jonah Bryant from Shoreham, who is among the favourites for the under-19 boys title.

Heston and Bailey Malik who, like their sister, train at the K2 in Crawley, will be joining Torrie in Birmingham, and are both among the seeded players in the under-17 boys competition.

And Crawley’s Reka Kemecsei is one of the top seeded English players in a highly-competitive under-15 girls section which also includes Sussex’s Isabella Hutton among the seeded players.

Sussex is also well represented in the younger age groups, with Zack Greengrass one of the top seeded English players in the under-13 boys competition and heading to Birmingham having recently won the British Junior Championships in October.

The British Junior Open is run by England Squash and the governing body is hopeful the return of the world’s oldest junior tournament after a two-year break due to covid-19 and the emergence of players like Torrie and Jonah can inspire future generations to take up the sport.

For more information, including how to watch the games online, visit: www.britishjunioropen.com – and to find out how children can get involved in squash, visit: www.squashstars.co.uk