In what is believed to be an NCS record, 18 local juniors qualified for the US Junior championships held at the Specter Center In Philadelphia in November. Simply qualifying for this tournament is an enormous honor. Draws are composed of the top 32 players in the USA in each age division, except for the under 11s, where draws are capped at 16. GU13s Akaisha Bhatia and Isabella Tang each reached the quarterfinals, with Akaisha taking third overall. NCS juniors who also finished in the top half of their draws: BU15 Arjith Mathew, 13-16 GU15 Elise Kang, 11-12 GU15 Khadija Elhaddad, 13-16 GU15 Calla Yim, 13-16 GU13 Trinity Moshi, 11-12 Congratulations also to the following NCS juniors who qualified for this tournament: BU11 Eric Tang GU13 Shreya Vadlamani BU13 Kian Patnaik BU13 Zachary Ingber GU15 Makeda Moshi BU15 Sami Garside BU15 Christian Keng BU17 Daniel King BU17 Rohan Bhatia GU19 Maya Reedich BU19 Alex Akbari

US Squash Junior Gold tournaments attract some of the strongest players from around the country. Nine local juniors reached the semifinals in their age divisions, with five reaching the finals. Congratulations to the following juniors: BU11 Eric Tang, Winner; BU13 Zachary Ingber, Finalist; GU15 Makeda Moshi, Finalist; BU17 Daniel King, Finalist; GU19 Maya Reedich, Finalist; GU13 Shreya Vadlamani, Third; GU15 Akaisha Bhatia, Third; BU19 Alex Akbari, Third; GU13 Radha Vadlamani, Semifinalist. Congratulations also to Calla Yim, who won the GU15 division at the Thanksgiving Junior Gold in Rhode Island.

Navid Modanlou won the BU13 draw at the tournament, which was played at the McLean Racket and Health Club and Squash at Tysons. Navid was never seriously challenged, sweeping all nine games on the way to the title. Charlotte Vengrin took the GU17 title and dropped just one game, in the final to Amelia Keng, out of four matches in her draw. Congratulations to Amelia for making her first Silver tournament final. Even though she lost in four games, in two of them she pushed Charlotte to 12-10. Nathan Reiser knocked out the second seed in the quarterfinals, then dispatched the number three seed in the semis before falling in the final in the BU17 draw.

Congratulations to the juniors from our area who took titles at the August Mid-Atlantic and South-East Regional Junior Championships or who placed well at the National Junior Championship Tournament (JCT) last weekend. At the regional championships that were played in Atlanta, Arjith Mathew (BU15), Trinity Moshi (GU13), and Elise Kang (GU15) took home first place trophies. Sami Garside reached the BU15 final, while Daniel King (BU17) and Makeda Moshi (GU15) took third. At the JCT in San Francisco, which attracted the top-ranked USA juniors, Daniel King pulled off repeated five-game upsets in the main draw. Playing in his first-ever JCT, and seeded in the bottom group at 33/48, King reached the BU17 quarters, a nearly unheard of feat, and finshed sixth.  Rohan Bhatia also reached the BU17 quarters, a personal best JCT result for him as well. GU13 Akaisha Bhatia, the #7 seed, knocked out the #2 seed in the quarters in an impressive four-game match and took … Continue Reading ››

Combined Reporting from US Squash and National Capital Squash Team USA ended its 2018 Pan American Junior Championships campaign by claiming bronze medals in both the girls’ and boys’ team competitions June 23, 2018 at the Capitol Squash Center in Brasilia, Brazil. The U.S. delegation returned home with a total of five medals, including the girls’ and boys team bronzes.

The boys’ team, including National Capital Squash Junior Liam Rotzoll, outperformed their eight seeding by making a surprise run to the semifinals. The U.S. boys clinched a spot in the semis with of an upset over four seeds Mexico in the quarterfinals. The boys eventually fell against a strong Canadian team in the semifinals, consigning the U.S. to bronze medals. Prior to the team championship, Liam competed in the individual event.  … Continue Reading ››

Princeton Senior and co-captain Kira Keating won two upsets to win her draw at the College Individual Championships. The winners of the four 16-player Holleran draws earn four of the Second Team All-American honors. Kira, who grew up in Chevy Chase and went to Potomac High School, was seeded 7th. After knocking out George Washington's #2 player in the first round, she faced Grace Doyle, who played #3 for Princeton.  Kira easily took the first game, then was trounced in the second. The third game was a real battle, with Kira edging  out a 13-11 win and then closing out game four 11-7.

In the semis, she faced yet another teammate, Kate Feeley, who upset Dartmouth's … Continue Reading ››

National Capital juniors racked up many impressive results at the US Squash Silver National Championships, held at Meadow Mill Athletic Club in Baltimore.  Three made the finals. Emma Wolf, who played up an age group into GU19 and was seeded 14th, beat the #3 seed 3-0 in the round of 16. She won the final in five closely contested games.

Ellis Chung took the GU11 title, scoring an upset over the #1 seed in the quarterfinals in four games. She went on to win the final in five games. Sofia Arseniev (GU15) dropped just one game on the way to the final, where she lost in four close games. Rohan Bhatia, down 2-1 in games, came back with 11-9 and 12-10 wins to take 5th in BU13. Aalia Husain made the quarterfinals in … Continue Reading ››

Congratulations to the two National Capital juniors who qualified for the 2018 U.S. Junior Squash Championships. Only the top 32 US citizens who enter each age group division (16 in U11) get to compete in this super-elite tournament. Simply qualifying for this tournament is a very high honor. BU19 Liam Rotzoll upset the #3 seed in the round of BU19 and finished 7-8.  Last year he won the Silver Nationals title in BU17, so this is incredible improvement. Christopher Kang, BU15, also qualified for this honor for the first time.