Squash Yukon held their annual Yukon Open tournament this past weekend.

The Star stopped by Better Bodies Saturday afternoon to check out the action, which included players from out of the territory.

In an all-Whitehorse match, Justin Johnston edged Jordan Barker three games to two in the Open category in a highly competitive match.

Johnston and Barker had dropped down to a lower bracket after losing earlier in the tournament.

“It was awful!” joked Barker as he went by.

Johnson said “It was a battle of strategies and it was a lot of fun.

“I’m glad it went the distance. A great run. I enjoyed playing Jordan throughout the year.

“We know each other’s strategies quite a bit and that makes for some pretty tight matches between us.”

Johnston said he’s played at the club for four years and 12 in total.

“I love the tournaments here. They’re so much fun. Everybody’s supporting everybody.”

Johnston said the key to his victory was persevering through Barker’s strategies.

“He’s a very strategic player, so, just grinding it out.”

Johnston added, “It’s a great tournament, great weekend with a bunch of great people.”

Meanwhile, in the upper Mxed Open bracket, Tomas Edmonds of Kelowna, formerly of Wales, overcame Sam Penner three games to none in one of the semifinals.

Edmonds said the match was “awesome.

“It was pretty physical. The guy I played was very fit, very fast. I had him diving a few times, so I had to keep up with that, but luckily, I felt great today.”

It was Edmonds second match of the day.

“The first one, I felt a little sluggish.”

Edmonds is a fairly skilled squash player.

“I was actually supposed to go to the nationals next weekend but six weeks ago tore a tendon in my ankle, so that kind of derailed those plans. But I’m OK to play, so I thought I’d come up here for a fun tournament and check it out.”

Edmonds, 25, said he played pretty competitively as a junior in Wales.

“I reached a high of number five in Wales in the under-16 and was sponsored for a couple years by Harrow (sports equipment maker). Now just play for fun and go to tournaments and have a good time and try to grow the game of squash.”

This is Edmonds first time in the Yukon.

“I was super-excited to come check out the Yukon. We had a little bit of a tour earlier. It’s been great.”

A couple of his friends from Kelowna, including fellow competitor Joel Casey, convinced him to come up to the territory.

Edmonds next match was the final against the Squad Yukon tennis pro, Gyanendra Singh, who edged Casey in the other semifinal.

“It’s gonna be tough,” related Edmonds. “Gyan is very fit and very accurate. His lobs and drops are pretty deadly. He’s very accurate with those.”

Of the match between Singh and Casey, Edmonds said, “That was quite the thriller. I did think Joel was going to get it, but it seems like he ran out of a bit of gas.

“They did work hard. It was a good match.”

As for the final, Edmonds said, “I’ll try my best.”

Squash Yukon president Stuart Macmillan said the tournament was “fantastic.”

He said there were 60 participants of all ages in the tournament.

“It’s nice to see folks come from out of town. It’s nice to play different people and it’s nice to see the skills other folks have. Part of growing the squash community is bringing people from different places together to play the game.”

There were five divisions: Mixed Open, Mixed A, Mixed B, Mixed C and a Youth division.

Of the Open division, Macmillan said, “They’re putting on quite a show this weekend.”

Finley Armstrong came in from Yellowknife to compete in the A division.

“He was here last year,” recalled Macmillan.

Of returning out-of-towners like Casey, Macmillan said, “They’re ambassadors for squash in the Yukon. They talk it up and they bring their crew with them, so it’s great.”

Macmillan said, “We’re hoping to grow squash as part of the sports tourism in the territory. The more people we can get to come up and see the area and play the game here, the more we can hope to see that happen more often.”

Macmillan added, “I encourage people if they’re interested, give it a try. Just connect with our coach, Gyandendra. We do have free ‘Give Squash a Try’ days. You can bring the kids and try hitting the ball around and see if it’s something you’d like to pursue.”

Complete results from the tournament can be found on the Squash Yukon Facebook page.