2023 Australian Junior Teams Championships Day 1 wrap up

Day one of the Australian Junior Team Championships at Brisbane’s Daisy Hill Squash & Racquet Club has wrapped up with team camaraderie high. 

Division 1 saw reigning champions Queensland start their title defence securing a round 2 win over Western Australia, ending the day on 13 points. (Round 1 Bye)

Despite suffering a first-round loss to Victoria, New South Wales finished the day in the lead on 21 points after bouncing back against South Australia. 

Victoria State Coach Anthony Hill, who reached No. 5 in the world during his playing days, attributed his team’s day 1 success to the depth in this year’s squad.

“Having seven finalists and another two that played off for third and fourth shows our depth is a whole lot better this year, last year we had only one player in the final,” he said. 

“We’re starting to look very strong this year, our win against NSW is a great start. We are going for Queensland, we want to beat them. The key to beating them will be the depth in our side.” 

Division 2 saw New South Wales take the early lead with two wins and securing 13 points ahead of ACT with 11 points at the end of the day’s play.

Victoria ended the day with two losses and on 11 points while Queensland and Tasmania both had day 1 byes finishing on 6 and 3 points respectively. 

The introduction of the second division at this year’s AJC has been labelled a success by New South Wales Junior State Head Coach Jemma Wratten. 

“We have 23 players across the two divisions, we’re really impressed with everyone, they’ve put in great effort,” she said. 

“The introduction of the second division has allowed our third player the opportunity to play every round and not be on the sideline. It’s been a great opportunity for the players to improve, have match practice and experience what it is like to play at an AJC.

“The team environment has been great to bring everyone together, they all live spread across the state from country regions to Sydney so to have everyone support each other has been really fun.” 

Day two will see current tournament leaders NSW have a round bye in both divisions. 

Team points standings after two rounds

Division 1
New South Wales 21
West Australia 18    
Queensland 13    
Victoria 12    
South Australia 8

Division 2 
New South Wales 13
ACT 11
Victoria 7    
Queensland 6
Tasmania 3

See the full schedule and follow the results HERE