Fifteen-year-old Sam Todd wins British U23s Championship

Pontefract Squash Club’s Sam Todd – not yet 16 and already with an outstanding record at international level – eclipsed all his substantial previous achievements as he followed in the footsteps of his clubmates James Willlstrop and Partrick Rooney when winning the British Under 23 Championship at Roehampton.

Sam Todd pictured with Jasmine Hutton after they both triumphed in the British U23 Squash Championships at Roehampton.

Todd, seeded 3/4, beat Tom Bailey (Lancashire) 3-1 in the first round and reached the semi-final when his opponent Aaron Allpress (Essex) retired in the last eight match with Todd having won the first game.

In the semi-final he faced Lewis Anderson (Warwickshire), who had defeated the top seeded Chua Man Min (Singapore) in the quarters.

Todd reached the final with a convincing 3-1 victory, winning the fourth game 11-3.

His final opponent was Elliot Morris Devred, a Welsh senior international. Todd led 2-1, but after four close games it was two-all.

It was nip and tuck in the final game, but Todd’s experience at world level gave him the deciding game and the Championship 11-9.

He will now be part of the Pontefract team to play Nottingham at home next week in the National League.

The team is James Willstrop, Chris Simpson, Abhay Singh, Sam Todd and Laura Massaro.

Singh will also be available for the Pontefract Yorkshire League Premier first team against Barnsley this week.

The Premier second team, after beating Hull and East Riding 3-2, go to Chapel Allerton.

Todd’s performance was certainly the highlight of the week, but three of the Pontefract club’s promising young players, Katherine Jarvis (Under 15), Jaspreet Kaur Nahal (Under 13) and George Barker (Under 11) all won bronze tournaments this week, illustrating the depth of talent at the club.