Junior Inter County Championships – 2026 Qualifiers
In early January, the county took 2 teams to the Junior ICC qualifying stages: Girls Under 13 and Boys Under 15.
Our first match of the day was the GU13 against Hampshire GU13.
First on court was Kiara Varrie playing at number 3 against a bigger and stronger opponent. Kiara stepped up from the GU11 age group to play in the GU13 and found the match quite tough. Kiara went down 11-1 in the first game against Tess but fought back hard in the second game losing it 11-7. Kiara finally lost the third game 11-3. Kiara had the agility around the court but couldn’t quite match the power and control of her opponent.
Maja Kwiecinski was second on court playing at number 1 and what a game it proved to be with all the games going to the wire but eventually losing 3-2. It was a great display of two different techniques, Maja with her power and her opponent with her precision. With the first two games finishing 13-11 and 19-17 both of which went to Olivia there was nothing separating the two players. Maja made a brilliant come back in the next two games winning them both 11-8. The fifth and final set was a nail biter with both players trading points all the way to the end with Olivia taking the final game 12-10.
With Oxfordshire already 2-0 down Tilly was next on court against a very steady opponent. Tilly started off strong in the first game but after a couple of errors and the control of Phoebe her opponent she went down 11-5. Unfortunately this continued for the next two games with Tilly losing 11-3 and 11-3 to a strong opponent.
We had the BU15 match against Berkshire BU15 next. Berkshire fielded a fairly young team who were no match for the slightly older and bigger players from Oxfordshire but they will be a team to watch out for in the years to come.
First on court was Sophie playing at number 5 and Jack playing at number 3. Sophie had to fight off some nerves and some rustiness in the first game winning it 13-11 against George. After that she regained her control she managed to win the next two games 11-3 & 11-2. Jack was on the other court against a very young Musa. Jack was always in control against his much younger opponent winning the games 11-7, 11-1, 11-5. Next up was Harry playing at number 4 & Toby playing at number 1. Harry again was in control throughout the match against his younger opponent Safiya winning the the games 11-5, 11-5, 11-9. Toby had the toughest of matches to the tie against Edward and managed to sneak the first game 11-9. After the first game he used his speed and control to win the next two 11-6 & 11-6. The final match on court was Cheung Ying Yat who managed a very comfortable win over his opponent Jackson winning 11-0, 11-1, 11-0.
With the BU19 team already on their way to the final, they were on court next for a friendly fixture against the Buckinghamshire BU17 team.
Alex was on first at number 3 against Reuben. This game was again a battle to two different techniques. Alex with his power and speed and his opponent with his control and precision. Unfortunately Alex couldn’t quite match the control of his opponent losing the game 3-0. Alex later had a second match against the number 4 player for Bucks which he managed to win 3-1. Second on court was Kacper Kwiecinski against William. This was a great game to watch with both players playing extremely well with Kacper eventually coming out on top with a 3-0 win. Yaroslav was third on court against Suran Yaroslav showed his rustiness from the holidays and went down very quickly in the first game. Things did improve for him as he took the second game but he eventually lost 3-1.
The last match on court was our BU15 team against the Buckinghamshire BU15 team. This was always going to be a close match which could have gone either way. Unfortunately for us it went the way of Bucks 4-1.
First on court was Sophie playing at 5 and Harry playing at 4. Sophie had really close game narrowly losing 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 to Tyler. On the other court Harry was having a great match against Rian winning the first two games 11-5, 11-5. Harry unfortunately dropped the 4th game 11-13 to very spirited opponent but managed to complete the win 11-6 in the 4th game. Next on court was Jack playing at 3 and Toby playing at 1. Both of these matches were both high quality matches both of which could have gone either way. Jack dropped his first game against Edward losing it 11-8 but then took the next two games 11-9 and 14-12. Unfortunately he started to struggle with sickness in the 4th & 5th but fought hard to try and get the win but unfortunately went down 11-6 & 11-8. Toby fought hard against Ayaan who was slightly stronger losing the first two games 11-9 & 11-4. Toby managed to come back in the 4th to win it 11-4. The 4th game was a thriller with both players playing some great squash but eventually Toby went down 11-7. The final game was Cheung Ying Yat against a very strong Ibrahim. This showed as Cheung could not keep up with the power and control of his opponent eventually losing 11-6, 11-1 & 11-5.
All the players put everything they had in to their matches and played with great enthusiasm and pride. Unfortunately we did not make the finals with the GU13 and BU15 teams but the BU19 will represent Oxfordshire in the finals on the 21st/22nd March in Sheffield.