UKAF Individual Championships

On 25^th November 2021 in the sleepy town of Winchester, Hampshire, after an extended break in the calendar due to the international pandemic, UKAF squash finally managed to hold the UKAF Individuals. A huge thank you to all three services for the support given to this event and for their diligence throughout allowing us to be Covid Compliant within the Government’s guidelines and UKAF sports control board direction.

The event itself went smoothly with some old war horses doing battle in the Vets and some amazing new talent being discovered in the U25’s. The Ladies event was run in a different format this year due to a number of Ladies having to drop out at the last minute due to work commitments. The overall winner of the Ladies was Maj Elaine Radcliffe AMS (Army) who beat LH Page (Navy) in the Finals. The Army had a number of absentees with Maj Rosie Hamilton RE (Army) and Sgt Michelle Higgins (Army) missing. This allowed LBdr Liz Griggs (Army) to attend who gave a huge effort and achieved a 3^rd Place.

In the U25’s Mne Camfield (Navy) dominated from the first ball struck to the last, not dropping a game all tournament. For the Army the stand out star was Sig Ollie Coleman who at 18 years old has many more events to assert his dominance. Sig Coleman was the highest ranked player for the Army in 5^th position.

The Vets was probably the most keenly contested category with 4 players all having a chance of winning the event. Eventually Lt Col Rich Green AAC (Army) prevailed in the final against Capt Gareth Hall RA (Army). Many commented it was less like a squash match and more like a wrestling match. Maj Chris O’Brien R Sigs (Army) managed to see off Chf Tech Beresford from the RAF to make it an Army 1-2-3.

The men’s event stayed true to form on the seedings with Maj Sam Miller RA (Army) making it through to the finals against Tpr Paul Jones (Army) of the HAC. This was a repeat of the final 2 years ago. Despite a valiant performance from Tpr Jones, Maj Miller prevailed 3-0 to retain his place at the top of UKAF squash. In 3^rd place was Sqn Ldr Mike Hallett (RAF) who played inspired squash throughout.

Overall the event was a great success and allowed UKAF squash to run its first event since the pandemic. Hopefully this will now allow UKAF squash to push forward to the UKAF Squash Team Championships planned for early April 2022 in Aldershot.

RESULTS

Mens

1 – Sam Miller –  Army

2 – Paul Jones  –  Army

3 – Mike Hallett – RAF

4 – Paul Warner – Royal Navy

5 – Lee Burnie – Army

Ladies

1 – Elaine Radcliffe –  Army

2 – LH Page –  Royal Navy

3 – Liz Griggs-  Army

4 – Flt Lt Owen – RAF

5 – Flt Lt Davies –  RAF

U25

1 – Mne Camfield – Royal Navy

2 – SAC Mearns – RAF

3 – LAC Harrison – RAF

4 – LET Brown – Royal  Navy

5 – Ollie Coleman – Army

Vets

1 – Rich Green – Army

2 – Gaz Hall – Army

3 – Chris O’brien – Army

4 – Chf Tech Beresford – RAF

5 – CSgt Green – Royal Navy