Fernandes, Wiltshire, Joseph among early winners

May 21, 2009 Sports

Taylor Fernandes

Nyron Joseph

Taylor Fernandes, Akeila Wiltshire and Nyron Joseph were among the early winners on the opening night of this year’s Woodpecker Products, sponsored National Junior Squash Championships which served off Tuesday evening, at the Georgetown Club Courts.

The night’s action went according to script as pre-match favourites completely dominated their opponents except for the clash between last year’s Under-11 beaten finalist, Patrick Fraser, who was heavily favoured to get past Alexander Cheeks, but somehow managed to succumb in four tight sets.
It was clear from the start that Cheeks had different ideas this time around. He sprinted to a 3-0 lead, then 4-2, before Fraser upped the tempo and restored order to take a 6-4 lead and eventually closed out the game to lead 1-0.

The pint sized Cheeks dug his heels in at the start of the second game and traded shots with his much bigger and older opponent as ascendancy went back and forth with both players giving it their all.
However, it was Cheeks who held it together to take the second to level at 1-1.

An emotional Fraser started the third very shaky and allowed Cheeks to race to an 8-5 lead, before he pulled things back, but his opponent clung to a one point advantage and held on to clinch the set.
By now, it was clear that the calmer Cheeks held the upper hand, while Fraser looked ruffled and it was the former who took full advantage of his opponent’s apparent nervous state to reel off some accurate shots to wrap up the set and match, thereby creating the first upset of the competition.
The tournament is expected to continue every afternoon from 18:00 hrs at the same venue and is scheduled to conclude with the final round and presentation on Sunday.

In full results:
Girls Under-11:
Taylor Fernandes defeated Savannah Mendes 11/2 11/1 11/2
Lydia Alphonso defeated Rebecca Low 11/3 11/1 11/1

Girls Under-13:
Akeila Wiltshire defeated Larissa Wiltshire 11/4 11/0 11/6
Gabrielle Fraser defeated Riasoya Jodah 11/1 11/0 11/3
Girls Under-15, 17 & 19 combined:
Keisha Jeffrey defeated Kristina Cheeks 11/1 11/1 11/2
Kayla Jeffrey defeated Victoria Arjoon 11/1 11/9 11/7

Alexander Cheeks

Akeila Wiltshire

Boys Under-11 & 13 combined:
Travis Whitehead defeated Immanuel Barker 11/6 11/4 11/4
Nyron Joseph defeated Ben Mekdeci 11/3 11/1 11/1
Alec Melville defeated Matthew Phang 11/4 11/8 11/8
Nyron Joseph defeated Immanuel Barker 11/1 11/0 11/1
Alexander Cheeks defeated Patrick Fraser 9/11 11/7 11/9 11/9

Boys Under-15:
Nyron Joseph defeated Kevin Rodrigues 11/0 11/3 11/0
Jason Ray Khalil defeated Ryan DaSilva 11/2 11/1 11/4
Steven Xavier defeated Daniel Persaud 11/2 11/1 11/3
Boys Under-17 & 19 combined:
Oliver Downes defeated Nicholas Peters 11/0 11/0 11/1