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Khalil produces another authoritative performance to capture final
Prize winners pose with their hardware following the completion of the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap Squash Tournament presentation ceremony on Sunday.
– Low dominates category A
Junior squash star Jason Ray Khalil easily disposed of Nicholas Narain in straight sets to win the Open category final, while Rebecca Low won category A of the 2013 Bounty Farm Mash Handicap tournament which concluded on Sunday afternoon, at the Georgetown Club’s Squash Facility.
The eighteen year old Khalil produced an authoritative performance to take apart Narain 15/12, 15/7 even though he started with a -20 handicap, while Narain was given a -2 handicap. Khalil has now won the tournament twice in three years. The year he did not win the open category, he had won the plate category of the tournament despite playing with the -25 handicap.
This time around, it seemed as though even a handicap as severe as -25 would not have prevented him from winning the tournament as he played virtually unchallenged with the -20 handicap.
The former Marian Academy student played the entire tournament without dropping a single game in four matches. Khalil had defeated Jonathon Antczak, Ashley deGroot, Benjamin Mekdeci and Narain in straight games.
Narain, who was later adjudged most improved player (male) of the tournament, found himself in different waters against Khalil.
Khalil dictated the pace of the match playing a series of shots that forced Narain to change direction and cover the entire court on nearly every point.
Khalil avoided playing risky shots, but waited for the loose returns of Narain and punished him. Khalil’s shot placement in this encounter was near impeccable as he seemed aware of where Narain was at all times and knew exactly where and how to return shots so that his opponent could not retrieve them.
In the third place encounter, Steven Xavier (-12) defeated Benjamin Mekdeci (0) 15/8 15/12.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Low (0), who had one of the most severe handicaps in her category, nevertheless, completed an impressive win against Lucas Jonas (+7) 15/8, 15/11 to capture the category A title.
Low, who made it to the semi-finals in the Under 13 category at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA), Caribbean championships last year showed tremendous improvement in her game according to national coach Carl Ince. According to Ince, who was recently named coach of the year, Low has shown that she possesses great potential and has demonstrated the commitment to the sport recently by attending training sessions at 6am. Low also received the Most Improved Player award for the tournament.
Tournament results:
Open Category 1st place: Jason Ray Khalil
2nd place: Nicholas Narain
3rd place: Steven Xavier
Category A
1st place Rebecca Low
2nd place Lucas Jonas
3rd place Alexander Cheeks
Open Classic Plate:
1st place: Raphael deGroot
2nd place: Antonio Joseph
3rd place: Lloyd Fung-A-Fat
Open Plate
1st place Lydia Fraser
2nd place Alec Melville
3rd place Avinash Odit
Category A Plate
1st place Makeda Harding
2nd place Maya Collins
3rd place Gianni Carpenter
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