After a 2020-2021 school year without competitive squash, the Varsity Squash team has bounced back. One of its students will play in the first-ever pro squash tournament at the school, the Burnt Squash Open. Organized by Coach Bobby Burns ’08, the tournament is an official tournament sanctioned by the PSA (Professional Squash Association).
The Burnt Squash Open was held from October 14-17 at the Cullman Squash Courts. Professional, ranked players from over eight countries competed for $6,000 in prizes. Oscar Okonkwo ’25, the school’s representative in the tournament, was very excited going into the tournament. He said, “My goal is really just to have fun in my first professional tournament. I want to show what I can do.” In his first-round match against third-seeded Abhishek Agarwal from India, Okonkwo lost three games 11-6, 11-7, 11-9.
Students of all grades, particularly his peers on the squash team, came to support Okonkwo. Elise Kang ’25, member of the Girls Varsity Squash team, said, “It was great to see one of my teammates play in this professional tournament, which is an amazing opportunity. Even with nerves, Oscar played really well, and for the rest of the school community, it was good exposure for our squash program.”
In the following days of the tournament, most of the top seeds, including #1 ranked American player Spencer Lovejoy, advanced to the second round relatively easily. Lovejoy defeated Abdelrahman Nassar in a close 3-2 match to advance to the semi-finals, along with fourth-seeded Babatunde Ajagbe, fifth-seeded Sanjay Jeeva, and second-seeded Seif Shenawy.
In the semi-finals, Jeeva fell to higher-ranked Shenawy, while Ajagbe pulled off a surprise win against top-seeded Lovejoy. This set up a final between Ajagbe and Shenawy on Monday night, October 17. Due to our printing schedule, The Record is unable to report the final results of the tournament. Details on the tournament website can be found at psaworldtour. com/tournament/burntsquash- open-2022/
This tournament predates the start of the winter squash season in November. Boys Varsity Squash team has had a strong past few years, consistently placing in New England’s top five, and even finishing 11th in the country during the 2015-2016 season. The Girls Varsity Squash team is on the rise as well, winning the Founders League Championship in 2016 and 2017 and the Class B New England Championships in 2020.
Coach Burns has ambitious goals for the future of the team and took advantage of the off-season last year by recruiting new talent and building team spirit for the 70-person program. He said, “My goal is to win a national championship. I think we are fully capable of doing that.
