Downes upsets Mekdeci on opening night

Jul 06, 2012 Sports

Caribbean Under-13 champion Benjamin Mekdeci was outplayed by Allan Downes on the opening night of the Digicel Senior National Squash Championships on Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Club’s Squash facility.
On a night when most of the top ranked players received byes to the second round, the Downes/Mekdeci matchup proved to be the most scintillating encounter. Mekdeci was warming up for the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championships later this month, while Downes is simply a middle aged adult keeping fit and active; not exactly the ingredients of a battle for the ages, yet it proved to be quiet the duel.
Mekdeci had been desperately trying to snap a Mekdeci losing streak on opening night after his older brother Ian and his father Joe both lost their first round matches by respective 3-0 margins.
Brandishing power and clean, hard hitting close to the end of the first game allowed Mekdeci to come from behind and steal the first game from Downes 12/10.
After losing the first game and the momentum, the situation looked bleak for Downes, who also appeared to be fatigued. Nevertheless, Downes remained committed to the task at hand, playing reserved shots while allowing Mekdeci to take the risks. Although his fitness did not seem to permit it, Downes entertained Mekdeci in a few lengthy rallies instead of trying to kill the ball, but the eager 13-year-old could not resist the urge to go for winners.
Mekdeci’s game was off and inconsistent on this occasion and Downes was able to prevail 10/12, 14/12, 11/9, 11/8.
Earlier in the evening Ben’s father Joe Mekdeci lost to Joshua Abdool (3-0), while Raphael deGroot defeated Ian Mekdeci 11/5, 11/4, 11/7. Patrick Fraser put up a decent fight against Under-19 campaigner Steven Xavier but it was not enough to avoid a straight game beating. National Under-17 champion Nyron Joseph also made light work of Brian Yong (3-0) in one of the penultimate encounters of the night.
Joven Benn took apart Davendra Sahadeo in straight games, which was the same margin that Adam Alves defeated Antonio Joseph. Jason Van Dyke also enjoyed a comfortable three-game win against Dwayne Yan while Nicholas Narain hammered Lee Fung-A-Fat (3-0).
Mainly juniors competed in the women’s draw on the opening night with Caribbean Under-15 champion Akeila Wiltshire brushing aside Rebecca Low (3-0) while Ashley deGroot got past Larissa Wiltshire in straight games.
The tournament will continue until Sunday with most of the hype surrounding the participation of world ranked squash star Nicolette Fernandes who will be competing in both categories once again this year.

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Downes upsets Mekdeci on opening night

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