Ireland’s Hannah Craig and England’s Sam Osborne-Wylde have secured their places in the draws of the 25/26 PSA World Championships after they won the European qualification event, beating Karina Tyma and Viktor Byrtus in the finals yesterday at Pontefract Squash Club.
Top-seeded Craig certainly had to work hard for her victory this week in Pontefract; the Irish No. 1 came through three five-game matches and one four-game match on her way to the win. Craig was up against the unseeded Polish No.1 Karina Tyma in the final and went 1-0 down after a tight 13-11 went the way of Tyma. Craig then showed her quality to storm into the lead, taking games two and three 11-4, 11-7 and looked sure to be on her way to claiming the title.
Tyma had other ideas and changed tactics to score the fourth game 11-8 to force a fifth and final game. In the all-too-familiar situation for Craig, she made herself hard to beat in the last game, and after earning five match balls at 10-5, an error from Tyma gave Craig the well-deserved victory and a place in the PSA World Championships.
The men’s final saw No.2 seed Sam Osborne-Wylde take on tournament surprise package Viktor Byrtus. The Czech was the 13th-ranked player in the tournament but after producing three upsets in a row, was looking to claim one more to book his spot at the World Championships. Osborne-Wylde had only dropped one game on route to the final and managed to take the lead in the match by winning the first game 11-9 to draw first blood. Osborne-Wylde turned the screw from then on and lost just seven points across the next two games, winning 11-3, 11-4 to win the event and secure his ticket to Cairo.
