Guyana women win

Aug 22, 2009 Sports

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The GT&T, CARIB and Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, Guyana Senior Squash Team continued to experience mixed fortunes on Thursday, the second day of team competition in the Cayman Islands Caribbean Senior Squash Championships.
In the morning, the men’s team faced the impressive Jamaica line-up. The opening encounter saw junior player Raphael DeGroot, playing at 4th string, facing the veteran Bruce Burrowes. The Guyanese took the first game confidently at 11-9, using his superior fitness and retrieving skills, but as the match wore on his opponent applying a mixture of long drives and short balls took the next three games 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 to win the contest.
At 3rd string the promising Alexander Arjoon put on a clinic against the veteran Wayne Burrowes, dispatching him 11-7, 11-8, 11-6. Although still an Under-17 player, Arjoon is playing his fourth senior tournament and has clearly justified the selectors confidence in him.
The next match was between national champion Kristian Jeffrey and recently crowned Caribbean champion Chris Binnie. The young Guyanese showed his mettle, but never stood a chance against US based Trinity College Binnie, going down11-5 in each game.
It was then up the junior player Oliver Downes, playing at number 5 against Andrew Dougal to keep Guyana in the running. He played exceptional squash and pushed his more seasoned opponent to the hilt in the first two games losing 12-10 in each. Unfortunately he faded in the final game, before losing 11-4. The final match at 2nd string saw the legendary Regan Pollard playing against an equally experienced player Bruce Levy. A dead rubber on the score card, but neither player treated it that way.
Pollard, playing to a thin, but exuberant crowd including some of his Cayman Islands based relatives and other Guyanese, took the first game in clinical fashion 11-6. It appeared to be a rout, but the Jamaican returned with greater determination, working the ball around in to the deep and using his short game judiciously to good effect, taking the second game 11-6.
The third was close with Pollard losing 12-10 and by the fourth game, the Guyanese’s lack of fitness began to show and hopes faded. Pollard, playing only for personal and national pride returned resolutely in the fourth game using his well-honed court instincts to anticipate his opponent’s shots and playing tight game squeezed out victory 14-12. In the final stanza, both players were exhausted, but cheered on by a passionate crowd, Pollard pushed himself to play a final game of exceptional squash.
Given the Point-a-rally format adopted for the tournament, he played cautiously; restraining himself from risky shots. In the end his effort paid off with a close 11-9 victory.
The Guyanese having lost both ties in the round robin stage are out of the top four. They were expected to play Bermuda yesterday for 5th place, while Barbados engages the hosts in one semi-final and Trinidad face Jamaica.
However, it was a different matter with the women who easily defeated Bermuda 4-0 despite playing with only four players.
The results are as follows:
Victoria Arjoon bt Michelle Turner 11-3, 11-2, 11-2
Kayla Jeffrey bt Yvonne West 11-2, 11-2, 11-3
Nicolette Fernandes bt Kim Morbey 11-7, 11-5, 11-3
n/a
Keisha Jeffrey bt Amy Chan 11-4, 11-3, 11-1
Had Guyana their original 4th string, Mary Fung-a-fat, they would have easily won their earlier rubber on Wednesday against Barbados, instead of going down 3-2.
They now face default favourites, Trinidad and Tobago in the first semi-final, while Barbados goes against the hosts.
The Veterans’ competition also continued on Thursday against Barbados. Guyana lost two matches without a ball being served as it had no Women’s Over 40 or Men’s Over 60 players. Similarly, Barbados didn’t field a Woman over 50 so Guyana won a default match, but trailed 1-2.
Guyana’s first match was between the US based Alwyn Callender playing in his 15th consecutive tournament against the ‘running-man’ from Barbados, Nigel Griffith. A close match, both players employing great cunning by using well placed shots along the walls and judicious drops. The scores were close 11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11 and 11-7 in favour of the Barbadian.
The final encounter was another dead rubber, but important for the individual O-40 title – Guyanese Brendon Mounter, who lives and plays in the UK against Marlon White. White took the first two 11-6 and 11-5 easily as Mounter appeared unsettled in the early going. Enthused by the enormous Guyanese crowd, Mounter responded with a better performance dominating the third and fourth, 11-6 and 11-8. White appeared to be out of it, distracted by his own frequent quarrels with the referee.
In the final game the Guyanese was unable to capitalise on three match points from 10-7, allowing his opponent to tie the game at 10-10. By this time he too was inflicting unnecessary distress upon himself by agitating with the referee. Either player needed to win by two clear points and though Mounter had two more match points he was unable to close it off, allowing the Barbadian an opportunity to play two brilliant winners to win 14-12.
The Veterans were to play their last encounter last evening against Cayman Islands.
The competition ends today and the team returns tomorrow.

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