By: VINO
Joe Chapman may have fallen early, but Peter Creed gave the crowd plenty to cheer about as he beat Dane Sharp to win the BVI PSA Challenger 5 Professional Squash Tournament on Saturday June 21, 2014, at the Tortola Sports Club.
Challenger 5 Professional Squash Tournament Photo Credit: Charlie E. Jackson
Chapman playing Canadian Matthew Serediak, in the second round on Thursday, recovered from losing the first game, 4-11, to win the next two, 11-5 and 11-8, but could not sustain the pressure and lost the last two games 11-4 and 11-3 to conclude his Tournament, having reached the second round for the first time in the three year life of the event.
“He stayed really disciplined and made me do a lot more work than him to win those two games and he was able to clean up in the last two games. He is more experienced than me, but a year ago I would have probably been beaten by him much easier, so overall, having gone to a 5th game, I’m happy with my progress”, Chapman said.
Chapman also went onto to note how well the Tournament had gone , “The Players say every year that this is one of the best small Tournaments, in terms of the atmosphere, the way they are treated and how well organized it is”.
Although having some extra days off after his defeat Chapman will have little time to rest as he has Tournaments in New Zealand and Australia before heading to the Commonwealth Games and then Colombia.
Serediak went onto lose his semi final 6-11, 7-11 and 8-11 to Peter Creed, the top seed from Wales, who had recorded victories against Chris Hanson (USA) and Phillip Bull (Eng) to progress to the latter stages. Bull had knocked out Tom Chapman in the first round, 11-3, 11-3 and 11-1, in just 21 minutes on court.
Dane Sharp reached the Final, losing just one game, to local entrant, Adrain Ostbye. He also beat England‚ Joe Green and Shahjahan Khan and was much the sharper against Creed, in winning 3-0.
“I won’t say it was easy”, he exclaimed. “I felt like I was playing the best squash all week and having spent less time on court was fresher. I knew if I could show that each and every point then the energy would sap from his legs and I would get stronger and stronger”.
It was Creed’s first time to the Territory and the Caribbean, but he will be back. “I can’t miss this place! It’s hot, but the Country is awesome, everyone is so laid back and it has been a lot of fun”,he said.
Other local players who had progressed through to the main draw met similar defeats to Chapman against their more illustrious competitors with only Ostbye picking up a game, against Sharp. Mike Adamson and Rory Thornton were the other local players to get into the first round proper.
