Craig and Johnston Claim South Island Champs Title

Pictured Above - Megan Craig (Left) and Oliver Johnston (Right) - South Island Championships Winners

Megan Craig and Oliver Johnston have claimed the South Island Championships titles for 2016.

The Women's Open final saw home town hero Megan Craig play Nikki Kennedy. Craig stepped on court having just gone down in a hard fought three in her Men's Open 3/4 playoff game against Quinn Udy. Craig had a flight to catch to Hong Kong tonight so she wanted to spend as little time on court and dominated the centre of the court in the first game making Kennedy do all the work. Craig claimed the first game in devastatingly strong style. Craig came back on court in the second and continued her strong domination of the court and Kennedy struggled to match her strength with Craig claiming the second game. Craig never looked back in the third continuing to control the game and took the third game and the match.

The Men's Open final saw a battle of the two islands. Michael Blanchard of Auckland took on top seed and Christchurch player Oliver Johnston. Johnston and Blanchard had some long rallies in the first game with both players putting the other under pressure, however Johnston stepped up the intensity and worked Blanchard hard forcing the errors to claim the first game. Blanchard took an early lead in the second with some great shot choices, however Johnston managed to stick to his game plan playing good length which worked Blanchard hard and forced him to make errors. Blanchard’s error rate combined with Johnston's good length saw Johnston claim the second game. The third game saw Blanchard try to pull off some good shots, but his error rate was too high and Johnston managed to force the errors and he eventually claimed the South Island Champs title.

Make sure you check out the leadup, Day 1, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals of the event.

Full results are below.

Thanks to the Marlborough Squash Rackets Club for a great weekend and excellent hospitality.

Women’s Open – Final

(1) Megan Craig bt (3) Nikki Kennedy – 15/6, 15/6, 15/7

Men’s Open – Final

(1) Oliver Johnston bt Michael Blanchard – 11/6, 11/5, 11/6

Pictured Below – Michael Blanchard (Left) and Oliver Johnston (Right) - South Island Championships Men's Open Final