On Saturady 11th February, Nottingham’s Lea Van Der Zwalmen was able to win her third straight British Open Rackets title with a 3-0 victory over Georgie Willis in the grand final of the Ladies British Open held at the Queen’s Club London.
Van Der Zwalmen showed a ruthlessly strong and consistent level to her game during the tournament as she was unbeaten throughout, a performance expected of the defending champion.
In her second year at UoN and the president of the UoN Squash club, Lea certainly leads by example and said after collecting the trophy, “I’m so happy to have retained my title at the British Open this weekend and very proud to have won this prestigious trophy for the third consecutive year. I am very much hoping there will be more to come!”
““This result at the British Open is a huge boost to my World Championship preparations”.
Rackets, sometimes called racquetball, is different to squash as both the racket and ball used in rackets are smaller and the ball itself is harder and more solid. This leads to the game being faster and more demanding on players fitness yet the manner of Lea’s victory shows she is currently at the top of her game.
Rackets | @NUSquash president Lea Van
Der Zwalmen takes third consecutive British Open Rackets title! Full story: https://t.co/fZx3pM5dBQ pic.twitter.com/2AfvhT2Ves— UoN Sport (@UoNSport) February 14, 2017
Van Der Zwalmen will now be setting her sights firmly on a return to Queen’s Club London on 6th-7th May where she will be defending champion and favourite for the Rackets World Championship. “This result at the British Open is a huge boost to my World Championship preparations”, stated Lea after the match as she already begins to prepare for another tournament title defence.
“During the 2015/16 BUCS season, UoN Squash was the second most successful team for the university, behind table tennis, a testimony to the extremely talented players representing the Green and Gold”
Lea’s victory reflects too the strength of squash currently at the university. Squash at UoN is one of the largest societies that the university has competing in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport), with six men’s teams and five women’s sides.
During the 2015/16 BUCS season, UoN Squash was the second most successful team for the university, behind table tennis, a testimony to the extremely talented players representing the Green and Gold.
Nottingham Doubles | Welcome to @fantasysquash & all the players competing in the Nottingham Doubles at David Ross today! pic.twitter.com/EX7e1s96by
— UoN Sport (@UoNSport) February 11, 2017
“As a result, the standard of player from UoN players is expected to further increase in the years to come and offers the university an area of sport where they could truly dominate.”
Currently in BUCS, the men’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams are all top of their respective leagues whilst in the women’s, the UoN 1st and 2nd top their groups with the 3rd and 4th teams sitting in second in each of their leagues. This success across the teams so far means that squash once again will look to be one of the university’s strongest areas at the season’s end.
The squash club has also benefited greatly from the new facilities at the David Ross Sports Village, with six brand new ASB glass back squash courts and a single all glass court being the centrepiece of them. As a result, the standard of UoN players is expected to further increase in the years to come and offers the university an area of sport where they could truly dominate.
The amazing success of the current squash players and the new facilities offered from David Ross means it seems unlikely that more world class talent will not to be arriving in Nottingham, signalling a bright future for in the sport for the green and gold.
Jeremy Dunn
Images courtesy of University of Nottingham Sport
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