麻豆社区

Cameron Webber started the new squash season right where he left off.

Last year's winner of the season-ending Yukon Open beat Sam Penner 3-0 in the A draw final of the Early Bird Squash Tournament at Better Bodies Whitehorse Saturday afternoon to take the first event of the new season.

Webber, the tournament's No. 1 seed, kept Penner guessing in the final by frequently mixing up his shot selection, which often resulted in Penner sprawling out to try and return shots.

Their long rallies drew applause from the small audience gathered to watch the final.

Webber was unavailable to comment on his latest tournament win, as he reportedly had to rush off to work after the championship.

But the tournament runner-up had nothing but good things to say about Webber's game.

"It's always a fun matchup,鈥� Penner said following the title game. "He's got such a finesse style of play and he can run circles around you. It's just a lot of fun to play him. It brings out the best in the opponent, for sure.鈥�

Penner dropped three straight games to Webber by scores of 15-11, 15-2, and 15-10, but was satisfied with his tournament play.

The No. 2 seed beat Ehsan Idrees three games to one and Mark Tubman 3-2 to gain a berth in the final.

"I'm a pretty inconsistent player, but I was on this weekend,鈥� Penner said. "It was nice to play Cam in the final. I'm exhausted, but I don't mind the fatigue.鈥�

Webber was dominant throughout the tournament and didn't drop a game. He beat both Kai Knorr and Grayson Peters by scores of 3-0 before shutting out Penner.

Squash Yukon president Chris Toleman won the B draw, defeating Dylan Letang 3-1. Toleman's single loss to Letang was the only dropped game of the No. 1 seed's tournament.

Sixth seed Will Chetcuti won the C draw, defeating top seed Lara-Rae Grant 3-1.

Chetcuti defeated Keegan Kwok 3-2, Grant Woo 3-0 and No. 2 seed David Buckler 3-0 en route to the title.

Meanwhile, Jordy Walker took the D draw by squeaking out a 3-2 win over Jada Smith-Kwok.

Walker was the top seed for the draw and defeated Kennedy Cairns 3-0 and Todd Pilgrim 3-1 before the final.

Brett Walchuk won the novice division, beating Isaac Williamson 2-1 in the final. Walchuk was ranked fourth before the tournament and beat Dylan Massie 2-0 and top-ranked Ava Cairns 2-1 prior to the championship game.

The Early Bird tournament is designed to get players ready for league play, squash pro Khoon Chua said.

"It's the first actual tournament of the season with the proper scoring system,鈥� Chua told the Star. "We had one 鈥楧ust Off The Shoes' tournament at the end of September, a fun tournament for people to start getting back into squash again after the summer.

"The league starts next week and this tournament is specifically to tune up the players for the league,鈥� he added. "It is also a tournament to gauge where to place the players in the league, especially new players.鈥�

Sixteen new players are set to debut next week.