Squash: The “Palace Open” Squash tournament 2013

The day's programme started with the 'B' Open event and in this category there were quite a few players who were playing in a tournament for the first time. The final was between Mauro Stano and Matthew Borg. The Maltese player started off well by winning the first two games and with one more game to win thought that the match was his. But Mauro had other ideas and he managed an extraordinary comeback by winning the next three games and the first prize.

The Ladies' Open took the form of a round robin and, as expected, the three top players were Colette Sultana, Theresa Brousson and Kim Cauchi. The final between the first two was quite a balanced affair but Colette's intensive training gave her the edge over Theresa to win in three straight games. Kim Cauchi won easily against Aleksandra Scheibe to place third.

The match of the day turned out to be the semifinal between Mark Lupi and Carl Camilleri in the Men's 'A' Open category. Mark was leading by two games to one and had a match point in the 4^th game, but Carl managed to level at 11-11 and went on to win this game to bring the score to an exciting two all. The fifth game decider was also close but Mark won it 11-8 and thus went on to play in the final against Mattheus Antunes. Most of the players had been waiting for this match because they wanted to see two top players in action. Mark won the first two games, but Mattheus sneaked back to take the third. This spurred Mark to focus more and, after some very good, long rallies, closed the game and match with a score of 11-6.

The excellent squash courts at the Malta Union Club, and the generous prizes offered by The Palace Hotel have made this now annual tournament very popular, both with local and foreign players, as can be seen from the number of different nationalities taking part. As it has been customary todate, this successful Squash tournament was again so excellently organized on behalf of the Malta Union Club and The Palace Hotel by Ivan Balzan, to whom the Squash amenity is always grateful.

The final results were:

- Men's 'A' Open - 1st Mark Lupi, 2nd Mattheus Antunes, 3rd Carl Camilleri

- Ladies' Open - 1st Colette Sultana, 2nd Theresa Brousson, 3rd Kim Cauchi

- 'B' Open - 1st Mauro Stano, 2nd Matthew Borg, 3rd Karl Schranz

This was the last tournament of the season in the Malta Squash calendar, with the next one being in October.