Temple shows his class at Wycliffe junior open (From Stroud News and Journal)

Temple shows his class at Wycliffe junior open

IN the recent Wycliffe Junior Open Squash Championships, Robbie Temple was in a class of his own in the boys' under-17 event, winning it without dropping a single game.

To add to this, Robbie also got to the semi-finals of the under-19 event, losing 3-2 to the number one seed.

Robbie, who is 16-years-old, has been at Wycliffe School all the way throughout the junior years.

He was born and bred in the Stroud area and his love of the sport came at a very early age.

The head squash coach at Wycliffe School is Dave Morrish and he gave the youngster rave reviews, he said: "Robbie's parents ran a squash club in Painswick and he first picked up a raquet at the age of two or three-years-old.

"Robbie was expected to win the tournament but it was the way he did it. He just went out there and blew everybody away.

"He wants to make a career of out playing squash and he has got the potential and talent to be one of the top players in the world."

In the past year, Temple (pictured right) has got to the finals of three European events.

He is the best in the county for his age and last weekend he won the Gloucestershire under-17's and under-19's championships.

"In the next year he should be knocking at the door of the full County squad", added Morrish.

The Wycliffe Junior Open attracts players from all over Britain and abroad.

This year saw representatives from Spain, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

The tournament is considered by many as the curtain-raiser to the new season.

For the first time there was an under-23 event for men and women and Wycliffe were well represented.

Carla Khan, a world top 50 player, won the inaugural women's event, which was most fitting as she was a former squash scholar at Wycliffe.

Borja Golan of Spain won the men's event beating Gloucestershire number one Alex Stait 3-2 in the final, Alex too was a former squash scholar at Wycliffe.

Jonathan Harford came a comfortable third after beating Zimbabwe's Jessie Englebrecht, plate winner in the recent Commonwealth Games.

Other notable performances came from Josh Saysell who lost in the boys' under-13 final - a week earlier he won the under-15 plate - and Rob Wilkins who reached the semi-finals of the boys' under-17s, as did Krystle Coopey in the girls' under-19s.

Anna Pearse beat Tara Coopey to win the girls' under-17 plate competition.

Double Commonweath Games bronze medallist Fiona Geaves kindly presented the prizes.

Results: Under 23 men B Golan, women C Khan; U19 boys J Binns, girls C O'Brien; U17 boys R Temple, girls L Holt; U15 boys J Snell, girls E Chorley; U13 boys C Fuller, girls C Marshall; U11 boys R Downer, girls E Ashworth.

Former Wycliffe student Alister Walker has just embarked on a career in professional squash.

This took him to New Zealand where he played three world ranking tournaments, losing in a quarter-final, semi-final and a final.

The points he achieved put him at 134 in the world rankings.

A promising career lies ahead and it should not be too long before he establishes himself in the world's top 50 rankings.