Joe Twigge celebrates national squash success (From York Press)

Joe Twigge celebrates national squash success

9:30am Saturday 14th April 2012 in Junior sports

UP-AND-COMING Wigginton Squash Club junior Joe Twigge is celebrating success on the national stage.

The youngster played a key role as Yorkshire’s under-13s won the Inter-Counties Championship.

Huntington School pupil Twigge, ranked 46th in the country at U13s level, has played representative squash for Yorkshire since the age of nine.

However, he won his first cap for the full Yorkshire Inter-Counties side this season – and he starred in the number five position.

To reach the finals, Yorkshire had to first win through two qualifying rounds.

In the first round, the White Rose side beat Northumberland 4-1, Derbyshire 5-0 and Cheshire 5-0.

Topping that qualifying group took them on to the second round, where they beat Durham and Cleveland 3-2, Warwickshire 5-0 and first round lucky losers Northumberland 4-1.

The finals weekend saw the country’s top four sides meet at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre.

Yorkshire were first drawn against Kent in the semi-finals and proved too strong all round for their opponents as they ran out 5-0 winners.

They then faced up to reigning champions Hampshire in the final, who like Yorkshire boasted great strength in depth.

Twigge helped get the team off to a flying start as he won 3-2 having battled back from 2-1 down, and Yorkshire went on to seal a 4-1 victory.

The Wigginton ace, who is coached by city-based star Neil Cordell, went through the season unbeaten, dropped only three games, two of which were in the final.