New Zealand and Papua New Guinea lead international contingent at the Oceania Junior Championships

The Oceania Junior Championships (OJC) are about to get underway from tomorrow Saturday 17 December until Monday 19 December at Sydney’s Thornleigh Squash Centre, as the event makes a much anticipated return after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions.

The Championships are open to junior players from the 10 island nations of Oceania to compete across boys and girls U11 to U19 age groups, with delegations from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Fiji among the ones taking on the local Australian players in the tournament. 

Like many others in the junior ranks, the nine players from Papua New Guinea will be looking to get precious international experience when they take to the court in Sydney tomorrow.

“We have one of the biggest teams thus far as we continue to push our junior development forward,” said Merlyn Alarcos, Port Moresby Racquets Club squash director. 

With most of the PNG team is based in Port Moresby, Cairns-based Josh Porter is one of the few juniors who has competed at international events prior to the OJC, while Amity Alarcos and Troy Siaguru are also looking forward to measuring up with tough competition in the U19 divisions. Due to the costs associated with travel, the OJC is a key event for the development of PNG’s juniors, who have also been training in Malaysia in the lead-up to the tournament. 

“This is one of the few international junior events that is feasible for our players to attend, and sometimes it’s the only international exposure they get,” said Alarcos. 

The OJC takes up additional importance this year as a stepping stone for the World Junior Championships hosted in Australia in 2023. With an exciting Trans-Tasman Junior Test Series held at the same venue between 20-21 December, New Zealand will send a strong team to compete in both events. 

Squash NZ High Performance Manager Shelley Kitchen said it’s great to have the competition back on the calendar, adding that all of the New Zealand players are excited to take on their trans-Tasman rivals. 

“There’s a real mixture of players given the opportunity to play for New Zealand from around the country which bodes well for the future to create competition internally and externally,” she said.

A number of players on the NZ team excelled at the national age group championships in Wellington last month, while Ella Lash, Anne Leakey and Paul Moran all competed at the World Junior Championships in France earlier this year. 

“They also have some great coaches with them in Emma (Millar) and Evan (Williams) who will instill a good work ethic in the players. It will be a great competition between the two nations, we’re all looking forward to it,” Kitchen said. 

Competition at the Thornleigh Squash Centre will commence tomorrow at 8.30am AEDT. 

Schedule and results will be available on the Squash Australia website, while matches played on court #2 will be streamed for free on Cluch TV and World Squash TV.