O’Connor & Baillargeon Capture Historic Canadian Titles

    On a sunny Sunday in Toronto the courts at the Mayfair Clubs Lakeshore were filled with the sounds and excitement of incredible squash – outside the weather gorgeous, but inside the upcoming and rising stars of the Canadian squash scene were shinning brighter than the sun as 31 athletes competed for the 2018 Canadian U23 national title.
     

    On a sunny Sunday in Toronto the courts at the Mayfair Clubs Lakeshore were filled with the sounds and excitement of incredible squash – outside the weather gorgeous, but inside the upcoming and rising stars of the Canadian squash scene were shinning brighter than the sun as 31 athletes competed for the 2018 Canadian U23 national title.
     
    After 3 days of competition, the event wrapped with 'Super Sunday' when former World #4 & Squash Canada’s new High Performance Director, Martin Heath, and Ontario’s Super Coach, Greg Hutner joined in on the excitement as commentators for the live streaming on SquashStream.TV.
     
    The Women’s Final was a battle of two very talented, closely match athletes. In a 4-game exciting matchup Ontario’s Madlen O’Connor faced BC’s Grace Thomas. O’Connor went up two games over Thomas only for her to answer back, taking the third. But it was O’Connor’s day as the Ontario athlete captured the historical national title [12-10 11-6 4-11 11-4]. Ontario’s Nicole Kendall captured the bronze medal over PEI’s Emma Jinks.
     
    On the Men’s side, High-Performance squad athlete and PSA world #98, David Baillargeon (QC) entered the championship as the favourite and responded in kind by taking on each opponent showing his experience and class on his way to the Finals. Set to take on Baillargeon was Ontario’s George Crowne. Crowne gave Baillargeon a run, never giving up an easy point or backing down even taking a game, but ultimately Baillargeon’s experience prevailed leading him to the 2018 national title [11-9 11-8 8-11 11-4]. An all-Ontario match up saw David Mill capturing the third-place finish over James Flynn.
     
    A ‘first-ever’ event, Squash Canada officially launched the Canadian U23 Squash Championships this past weekend.  Once held as a division at the Canadian Squash Championships, 2018 marks the first time in Canadian squash history that the Under-23 division ran as its own full national championship event.  Developed to fill an identified gap within the Canadian squash player’s pathway, the U23 Squash Championships will serve as a competitive opportunity for Canadian athletes looking to take the next step in their competitive squash careers – some aiming to compete on the Professional world tour.
     
    Each athlete competing this weekend showed an incredible amount of talent and passion for the game, proving that the future is indeed bright for Canadian squash. 
    Thank you to title sponsor Downtown Automotive Group, presenting sponsors Mayfair Clubs and Black Knight, and player sponsor HEAD.  Like all national events a big thank you also goes out the Tournament Referee, Noman Nadeem and the entire officiating crew.
     
    For those wanting to re-live 'SUPER SUNDAY' check out Squashstream.TV https://goo.gl/eCA2Kt & re-live this exciting Canadian squash history in the making!
     
    Full draws and results can be found at http://bit.ly/2018CdnU23Champs_DrawsResults
     
    Click below to view pictures from this incredible weekend.

    2018 Canadian U23 Squash Championships