Barbados ends Guyana’s dominance in Caribbean junior squash

Barbados are the new team champions of the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships that concluded on Saturday (July 08, 2017) at the Georgetown Club Courts in Guyana.

The Land of the Flying Fish ended Guyana’s 12 year dominance, handing the host nation its first loss in the team championship in 13 years; Guyana prior to their loss had won 12 straight team titles.

With both Guyana and Barbados going undefeated in both the male and female categories, the two countries were left to battle it out in one match to determine the winner of the title. It ended with both male and female Guyanese teams falling to the Bajan players.

The Guyanese girls took a big loss at 5-0 while the Guyanese males went down 4-1 in front of a massive home crowd.

All five of the Guyanese young ladies, namely; Taylor Fernandes, Rebecca Low, Makeda Harding, Kirsten Gomes and Abosaide Cadogan all lost in straight sets to their Bajan counterparts.

Meanwhile, the only male to pick up a win during their 4-1 loss was 2017 under-15 champion Shomari Wiltshire with a straight set win over Darien Benn that finished 11-2, 11-2 and 11-1.

President of the Guyana Squash Association, Robin Low was pleased with the efforts of all the players but noted that the loss in the team championship was a “tough pill to swallow”.

Nevertheless, Low expects the entire team to refocus for next year despite a few outgoing players such as Fernandes and Ben Mekdeci.

Bajan Coach, Marlon White shared that it was continuous work over a few years that allowed Barbados to come out and outperform Guyana on their home turf.

Guyana ended the male team title race with four wins and one loss while the females ended with two wins and one loss. Both the male and female Bajan teams went undefeated for the entire team championship.

By Treiston Joseph