Jeffrey’s’ suffer mixed fortunes as Toucan Inc. Squash opens

Feb 27, 2009 Sports

Taylor Fernandes

Last year’s beaten finalist in the Under-17 category at the Junior Caribbean Championships, Kayla Jeffrey, outlasted U-15 champion Mary Fung-A-Fat in five exciting sets as play in this year’s Toucan Industries Inc. Mashramani Junior Squash Championship opened Wednesday evening, at the Georgetown Club Courts.

Kristina Cheeks

Playing in category B, the match started at a fast pace with Jeffrey using her superior speed and power to motor through the first game 9/3. Jeffrey continued to dominate early in the second set and got out to a 5-3 lead, before Fung-A-Fat found her range and cleverly broke Jeffrey’s rhythm with several drops and lobs.
This strategy seemed to frustrate Jeffrey and eventually put her off of her fast paced game, allowing Fung-A-Fat to take the second and the third 9/6 and 9/1.
Jeffrey came out firing in the fourth and flung herself around the court to retrieve everything Fung-A-Fat threw at her.
She raced to an 8-0 lead without dropping serve and eventually tied the match up by taking the fourth 9/4.
Although Fung-A-Fat never stopped fighting in the fifth, it was obvious that she was no match for her opponent’s superior power and stamina as Jeffrey appeared to get stronger as the match wore on, before claiming the fifth 9-1.

Kayla Jeffrey

Thirty six of Guyana’s top junior players are vying for honours in six different skill level categories, with each to be decided after five rounds of round robin play.
In full results of the matches played:
Category A
Jason Ray Khalil defeated Nicholas Narain 9/7 10/8 9/1
Oliver Downes defeated Keisha Jeffrey 9/0 9/0 9/0
Raphael deGroot defeated Deje Dias 9/7 9/0 9/0
Category B
Nyron Joseph defeated Victoria Arjoon 9/7 9/3 9/3
Kayla Jeffrey defeated Mary Fung-A-Fat 9/3 6/9 1/9 9/4 9/1
Ashley deGroot received a walkover from Ashley Khalil
Category C

Akeila Wiltshire

Lee Fung-A-Fat defeated Jason Van Dyk 9/4 9/4 9/7
Steven Xavier defeated Ryan DaSilva 2/9 9/7 9/5 9/5
Category D
Kristina Cheeks defeated Ben Mekdeci 9/6 9/8
Akeila Wiltshire defeated Patrick Fraser 9/3 9/1
Nicholas Narain received a walkover from Ongelle Burnett
Category E
Taylor Fernandes defeated Alexander Cheeks 15/10 14/17 15/13
Gabrielle Fraser defeated Matthew Phang 15/7 15/10.