There were no Isle of Man Squash Rackets Association league matches last week as the 28th running of the Dave Karran Memorial Masters competition took place at the National Sports Centre instead.

The masters tournament is divided into age categories from over 40s, over 50s, over 60s and over 70s, with an open competition also being held for the younger players.

Unfortunately, most of the age categories were undersubscribed but a good field of 20 players of all abilities took part in the open tournament.

The age groups were combined to make a viable competition and most matches went to seeding, apart from over 70s player Les Callow beating the much younger Dave Hedley.

In the final Hamish Thornton played Dave Freer and it was the much higher ranked Thornton who prevailed overall to secure victory.

It was decided that, as there were two over 70s players, they would play their match to decide who became over 70s champion.

Familiar adversaries Phil Shaw and Les Callow played a best of five match, with the latter just managing to secure victory in a very close contest.

In the open competition, matches went to seeding but there were some very close and entertaining matches throughout the rounds.

Top seed Josh Green and second seed Hamish Thornton got through all their matches undefeated to play in the final.

This was a match that all the spectators wanted to go all the way to five sets as the much older Thornton matched his opponent with movement and skill with some long punishing rallies.

Overall, Green managed to claim a 3-0 win to get his name on a senior trophy for the very first time, but he had to work very hard for it.

Isle of Man Squash Rackets Association would like to thank brothers Bill and Brian and their families for their continued support in this competition, and for providing sponsorship and a new trophy for the Dave Karran Memorial Masters.