Team Yukon went in seeded eighth and finished eighth at the 2013 Canadian Masters Team Championship in Vancouver, B.C., last weekend.
Though eighth place is also last place, there were positives to take away from the championship.
“I think we did OK,” said Eng Khoon Chua, Team Yukon’s No. 1 men’s player. “This is the Canadian championships and all the provinces are big provinces that we played against.”
Not only did last weekend mark the first time Yukon competed at the championship since about 2007, it was the first time Yukon fielded a full team, other than when Whitehorse hosted the event in 2003.
“When we can’t get enough players, we ask the host to supply us with one more player,” said Chua.
Team Yukon could also boast a few wins at the team event.
Whitehorse’s Terri Cairns and Lori Muir both won matches. Cairns, the 2010 women’s Yukon champ, won two matches against Quebec and one against Manitoba. Muir took a pair of wins against the same teams.
“With Terri and Lori winning matches, this was probably our best result,” said Chris Toleman, a member of the team and president of Squash Yukon.
“They are very close (in skill),” said Chua. “I think Lori usually has the edge over Terri when they play.”
Toleman came close to adding another check in the Yukon’s win column in a five-game match against B.C.‘s Barry Gifford, a former club pro in Vancouver.
“If that’s good or bad, I’m not sure,” said Toleman. “I think most players at some stage put in a good match. The thing with squash is you can have two matches in one day and in one you’re hitting the ball up and down the wall nice and tight, the next one it’s all in the middle.”
Also on Team Yukon were Eric Bardin and Jim Gilpin for men and Shirley Chua for women.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com