Gibraltar GibYellow 2024 Squash Nationals

The Gibraltar Squash Association held the GibYellow squash nationals championships at Europa Sports Park. The tournament was split into five competitions – The Glen Pearce Closed for all entrants, the Heather Duez Closed for ladies, the Veterans for players over the age of 45, the Vintage for players over the age of 55 and the Juniors division.
A week long knock out tournament saw a field of 66 whittled down to five finals.
In the Glen Pearce Closed, Christian Navas and Thomas Da Silva battled out for the championship. In a hard hitting opening salvo, Navas took an 6-3 lead which he converted to an 11-4 first game. Navas’s strong play forced a number of errors from Da Silva in the second, motoring to an 11-3 second game. Despite some closely fought rallies, Navas again powered on in the third to earn and convert his first championship point at 10-3.
The victory topped a good week for Navas who was Gibraltar’s best performing player at the Spanish Masters having come second in that tournament as part of 12 strong team from Gibraltar.
In the Heather Duez closed Victoria Griffin faced Colleen Devincenzi-Clemens both playing in their first Nationals final looking to add their name onto the trophy. Griffin was first out of the blocks using good lengths to take the first game 11-3. Devincenzi-Clemens could not find a way to stop Griffin continuing her run of points into the second game, Griffin taking the game 11-0. Devincenzi-Clemens started the third game much more positively taking a 7-5 lead. Griffin fought back and converted her first match ball to take her first championship.
In the Veterans, Colin Davis was up against Christian Navas., Davis had not dropped a game en route to the final and was hoping to cause an upset. That dream started to fall apart when he lost his initial 9-5 lead losing the first game 11-9. Navas inched ahead in the second, eventually earning his first game ball at 10-6 and converting his second to take the game 11-7. Navas dominated the final game (11-1) to take the match and the Veteran’s crown.
In the Vintage final Rob Hamilton played Chris Howland. Howland dropped behind in the first game but came back strongly to win 11-8. He managed to retain the momentum for the rest of the match winning the next two games 11-7, 11-5 to take the title.
In the Juniors, Christian Navas (jnr.) played Lily Rogers. Navas edged the first two games in tie breaks to take a 2-0 lead before closing the match with a more comfortable 11-6 to take the trophy.
The Gibraltar Squash Association now looks forward to hosting the Gibraltar leg of the European Masters Tour between the 10th and 12th May where players from across Europe will compete in age categories from over 35’s to over 75’s.