Joey Barrington
Joey Barrington

It was a hectic weekend for University of Birmingham Sport (UBSport) squash club, with past and present members competing in high profile competitions across the globe.

Over in Mikkeli, Finland, two alumni competed against each other in the Savour Finnish Open, over the 8-13 February.
Steve Coppinger (Mathematics 2005) and Joey Barrington (Sport and Exercise Science 2000) went head to head in the final, with Joey dominating the lead in the first game. The second game was level at six-all, but in the third it became clear that Joey was suffering some problems with the back of his thigh.

However, in the fourth game first seed Joey was no match for third seed Steve. The 26-year old from Cape Town took the game and went on to clinch his 13-15, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5 victory after 67 minutes.

Crossing over the Atlantic on the same weekend SPECS alumni, Jaymie Haycocks, competed in the National Capital Open 2011 in Bethseda, MD, USA. After an exciting match he lost out 3-2 to Wade Johnson from Australia in the semi-final.
Back on home turf Steve London (Mathematics 2009) headed to the capital to take part in the London Under 23 Open, and got through to the quarter finals, going out to James Snell from Devon.

UBSport Squash head coach Jon Tate said: ‘It is fantastic that many of our current squash players and alumni are currently producing fantastic results in top class World Professional Squash Association (PSA) events. These players are working very hard to continually improve all aspects of their games, and it is very pleasing to see that this effort is clearly being rewarded.
He continued: ‘ To have players regularly competing at this level is a great advert for University squash, and I hope that they can all continue this form into their next sets of tournaments and matches.’