Cardiff’s Emyr Powers Into Main Draw At Rhiwbina PSA Event

Cardiff’s Emyr Evans has powered into the main draw at the Rhiwbina PSA $10,000 tournament.

Home favourite Evans earned early Welsh success in the professional squash competition, the first PSA event to be played in Wales for a decade.

Evans, aged 20, defeated Lewis Walters (Jamaica) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 in 34 minutes in his first qualifying match and then won 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 in 42 minutes against Robert Downer (England).

Now Evans, ranked 164 in the World and coach by his father Andrew, plays fourth seed Mahesh Mangaonkar (India) in the main draw.

Newport player David Haley, 25, had earlier lost against Downer in a hard-fought qualifier, going down 7-11, 11-3, 10-12, 8-11 in 54 minutes.

Teenager Liam Eason, from the Rhondda, went out 5-11, 7-11, 8-11, while Caerphilly’s Dan Bergin played Andrej Uherke (Czech Republic) and lost 11-13, 2-11, 9-11 in 35 minutes.

Main draw matches start tonight (Thursday) at Rhiwbina Squash Club in Cardiff with Peter Creed, from the host club, seeded number two.

Caerphilly-born Creed, 30, is one of the most energetic and exciting players to watch on the PSA World Tour. He has trained with six-time British Open Champion Jonah Barrington and currently works with ex-British Open champion and fellow Welshman David Ev ans.

Creed, ranked 63 in the World, and has been Welsh champion seven times.

The number one seed at the Rhiwbina tournament is Joshua Masters, who is from Kent and plays out of Bristol. He is three places above Creed in the World ratings.

Mike Workman, head of coaching and development in Wales, talked about the Rhiwbina event, saying: “For the first time in 10 years, a PSA tournament has come to Wales.

“We congratulate Rhiwbina Squash Club for having the vision and aspiration to host the PSA Men’s $10,000 Squash Event.

“It’s exciting to have worldwide professional squash players from all corners of the globe competing here on our doorstep and we are looking forward to watching some high level competitive squash.”
Rhiwbina SRC chairman Richard Murphy outlined the club’s development, saying: “Our club committee approved a major development of the club premises 18 months ago with the introduction of a new court, improvements to all other existing courts and the creation of a seating area behind the two glass-backed courts.

“Up to 150 spectators can watch competitive squash at all levels. This development bucked the trend of courts closing at local venues and what a success it has been.

“The number of our club playing members has increased 60 per cent from 125 two years ago to more than 200 today.

“We have held a junior development event and the Welsh Masters Closed event here in the past few months, both of which were great successes.

“Now we have the jewel in the crown – a professional event with players travelling from across the planet to showcase their talents.”

Rhiwbina PSA $10,000 tournament, main draw:

All games being played this evening, Thursday – seedings in brackets:

6pm (1) Joshua Masters (England) v Lyell Fuller (England), court 3; (5) Kristian Frost (Denmark) v Ahsan Ayaz (Pakistan), court 4.

6.45pm (6) Jan Van Den Herrenwegen (Belgium) v (Qualifier) George Parker (England), court 3; (4) Mahesh Mangaonkar (India) v (Qu) Emyr Evans (Wales), court 4.

7.30pm (Wild Card) Sam Fenwick (Wales) v (3) Carlos Cornes (Spain), court 3; (Qu) Mark Fuller (England) v (8) Patrick Rooney (England), court 4.

8.15pm Ammar Altamimi (Kuwait) v (7) Dougie Kempsell (Scotland), court 3; (Qu) Brian Byrne (Ireland) v (2) Peter Creed (Wales), court 4.

The Rhiwbina tournament continues on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Quarter-final matches are played on Friday (two courts, 6.45pm and 7.30pm), while the semi-finals are on Saturday (3pm and 4pm).

The final will be played on Sunday (3pm).