GSA’s Digicel Nat Squash C/Ships…Former Caribbean Champion Richard Chin advance

Jul 06, 2014 Sports

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Wiltshire siblings also through to next round  

By Sean Devers
United States based former Caribbean Champion Richard Chin was clinical in his victory over

Nicholas Narain in the Men’s Open while the Wiltshire siblings, Larissa and Akeila, also advanced to yesterday’s round of action when night three of the Guyana Squash Association’s (GSA) Digicel’s 2014 National Senior Squash Championships at the Georgetown Club squash courts, was contested on Friday.
Friday’s action included several exciting quarter-final matches and there were a few major upsets on the night with the first coming in the Women’s Open Division when 2014 National Junior Under-17 Champion Larissa Wiltshire defeated fellow junior team member, 2013 Caribbean Under-19 Runner up and number three seed Victoria Arjoon by three games to one.
Wiltshire won a close first game 11 – 9 and then again won the second game 11 – 9. At 8 – 7 up in third game it seemed as if Wiltshire would close out the match in three but Arjoon summoned all of her energy and won the next four points and the game 11 – 8. This however seemed to sap all of Arjoon’s energy and from being 4 – 2 down in the fourth, Wiltshire won the next nine points in succession to win the game 11-4, to take the match three games to one.
Wiltshire’s sister, 2014 National Junior Under-19 Champion Akeila was clinical in her win over Kathy Ten-Pow in the third Women’s quarterfinal match. Wiltshire won a close first game 11-9 but things got easier for her as she won the second game 11 – 2 and the third game 11 – 6.
National under-17 junior player Taylor Fernandes was also looking for a major upset win over number two seed Ashley de Groot.

But de Groot had other ideas and even though all three games were very close de Groot prevailed in straight games 11- 8, 11 – 9, 11 – 7.
The last Women’s quarterfinal was rescheduled for yesterday afternoon due to the unavailability of number one seed Mary Fung-A-Fat who sustained an ankle injury while training on Friday. Fung-A-Fat was set to battle Alysa Xavier yesterday.
The other major upset occurred in the first of the Men’s Open quarterfinals when 2014 National Under 19 Junior Champion and three time Caribbean Champion Nyron Joseph defeated former National Champion and number four seed Regan Pollard three games to one. Joseph won a close first game 11 – 8 before Pollard won the second 11 – 7. Winning the second game took a lot of the energy and strength out of Pollard and Joseph easily won the third 11 – 1 and the fourth, 11 – 4.
In 2010 Chin returned to Caribbean squash after a 19-year sabbatical to capture the prestigious men’s singles crown in St Vincent when he defeated defending champion, Chris Binnie, in the final of the National Lotteries Authority Caribbean Squash Championships.  The slimly built Chin demonstrated he had lost little of his skill with a convincing 11-8, 11- 0, 11- 5 victory over Nicholas Narain, winning in straight games.
Current National Champion Alex Arjoon easily overcame his former junior teammate Deje Dias also in straight games. Alex won 11-2, 11-2, 11-4.
In the last of the quarterfinal Men’s matches Jason Ray Khalil was initially made to work hard by 2014 Under 17 National Champion Ben Mekdeci but eventually wore him down and took the match three games to nil. Khalil won a tight first game 11-9. The loss of this game seemed to deflate Mekdeci and Khalil easily won the second 11-3 and followed it up with a crushing

11-0 victory in the third game.
In the Men’s Veterans (35-49) category all of the top seeded players won their quarterfinal matches in convincing fashion.
Only the match involving Stephen Fernandes and Brian Yong failed to be completed in straight games, with Young winning by three games to one. Young won the first two games 11 – 3, 11- 9 lost the third 7-11 but rebounded to take the fourth 11 – 7.
In the Women’s Open plate division, former Caribbean Junior Champion Andrea King was pushed to the limit by 2014 Under 15 Champion Rebecca Low but prevailed in five tough games. King won the first game 11-9 but then lost a tough second game 17-15. She bounced back to win the third game 11-8 but then again lost a close fourth game 13-11. King however held her nerve in the fifth and won the game 11 – 5.
Matches were scheduled to continue yesterday at 12:30hrs. After a short break the competition was set to resume at 18.00hrs with the semi-finals.
Friday’s results:
Men’s Open
Alex Arjoon beat Deje Dias 11 – 2, 11- 2, 11 – 4
Richard Chin beat Nicholas Narain 11 – 8, 11 – 0, 11 – 5
Jason Ray Khalil beat Ben Mekdeci 11 – 9, 11 – 3, 11 – 0
Nyron Joseph beat Regan Pollard 11 – 8, 7 – 11, 11 – 1, 11 – 4
Women’s Open
Ashley De Groot beat Taylor Fernandes 11 – 8, 11 – 9, 11 – 7
Akeila Wiltshire beat Kathy Ten-Pow 11 – 9, 11 – 2, 11 -6
Larissa Wiltshire beat Victoria Arjoon 11 – 9, 11 – 9, 8 – 11, 11 – 4
Men’s Veterans 35 – 49
Joe Mekdeci beat Timothy Jonas 11 – 6, 11- 4, 11 – 3
Alwyn Callender beat Damon Woodroffe 11 – 5, 11 – 8, 11 – 5
Medhi Ramdhani beat Philip Fernandes 11 – 4, 11 – 5, 11 – 4
Brian Yong beat Stephen Fernandes 11 – 3, 11 – 9, 7 – 11, 11 – 7
Men’s Open Plate
Joshua Abdool beat Antonio Joseph 11 – 2, 11 – 2, 11 – 5
Robert Hiscock beat Jamaal Douglas 11 – 6, 11 – 4, 9 – 11, 11 – 5
Oliver Kear-Downes beat Haopei Yang 11 – 2, 11 – 2, 11 – 5
Alec Melville beat Ian Mekdeci 11 – 6, 11 – 8, 11 – 2
Women’s Open Plate
Andrea King beat Rebecca Low 11 – 9, 15 – 17, 11 – 8, 11 – 13, 11 – 5
Tiffany Solomon beat Sarah Lewis 11 – 5, 11 – 7, 11 – 3

Photo 1:

Photo 2: Nicolette Fernandes chats with overseas based former Carribean Champion Richard Chin.

– Akeila Wiltshire, Larissa Wiltshire

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