Stortford players are giving it their all at the British Nationals in Manchester this week. Representing our club we have Brogan Lane & Lauren Selby in the main ladies qualifying draw, Kath Kemp in the ladies over 50 draw, John Preston in the mens over 70's and Daryl Selby in the main mens draw.
Earlier in the week Brogan had a tough first match, losing out to Millie Tomlinson 11/3, 11/5, 11/7 (19m). Lauren cruised through her first round match against Julianne Courtice and then her next match against Carrie Ramsey was apparrently a real humdinger, as described by SquashSite "Long story short, they traded the first four games and reached 5-all in the decider. 
From then on it was pure drama with great squash, determined running, decisions aplenty, and plenty of them were disputed by both players. Carrie beat Lauren, 11/5, 2/11, 11/13, 11/9, 21/19 (74m)"
Kath Kemp played Karen Hume in the first round and fought a very hard match which went right to the wire, unfortunately going down 9-6, 9-7, 6-9, 9-10, 9-5 {49m} in the end, bad luck Kath. An unseeded John Preston found himself in the unlucky position of facing the Number 2 seed in his first match and although he put up a gallant defense, he could not keep John Woodliffe at bay, ultimately going down, 9-4, 10-8, 6-9, 9-5 {50m}.
Daryl on the other hand seems to be at his peek. Not only did he knock Peter Barker (WR 6) out of the BlueNose tournament in Canada last week, earning himself a place in the final against Thierry Lincou, but he has done it again here in Manchester. He now faces James Wilstrop in the semi-finals this afternoon, heres what he had to say:
"The first was crucial, I just managed to get two decent shots in at the end to win it. In the second I think he was a bit frustrated about losing the first and I got on top. He came out attacking everything in the third. The ball had gone a bit dead and he noticed it quicker than me and caught me off guard and I lost my length. In the fourth I got a better length and got on top again. At 8/2 I thought surely I can't lose this now, but I almost managed to as he came back with some more winners. We're such good friends, it's a pity one of us has to lose, but if someone has to win I'll pick me every time!
"It's great to make the semis for the first time, but to be honest this is the first time I've come here thinking I had a chance to do really well. I've at least gone one better than my seeding now, but actually winning it, it's more a dream than thinking about it. I'd have to beat James, then Nick or Adrian, but if I did manage to do that it would be by far the biggest achievement of my career ..."
To see the latest on the British nationals, go to SquashSite.
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