Caribbean junior Squash Championships 2014 Guyana teams on course for title defence as the advance to finals

Jul 19, 2014 Sports

---

On day three of the team event at the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships being held in Hamilton Bermuda, Team Guyana were seeking to rebound from the disappointment of losing to Trinidad & Tobago in their final girls group match Thursday. The Boys Team had beaten both Trinidad & Tobago and Bermuda to top their group and therefore were matched against Barbados in the semi-finals, while the Girls team went down to a surprising loss to Trinidad & Tobago to finish second in their group and thus booked a semi-final match against the top ranked team in the next group Jamaica.

They both had to fight but emerged victorious and booked places in the respective finals where the girls will tackle Trinidad & Tobago, while the Boys will come up against Jamaica.
First on the court were the girls in their match up against Jamaica yesterday.
In the girls Under 19 No 2 string match Victoria Arjoon proved to be too strong for Ashley Lynch winning 11 – 4, 11 – 6, 11 – 3.
Next on was Taylor Fernandes who replaced a slightly injured Larissa Wiltshire. She was matched up against the Under 17 champion Alyssa Mullings. Taylor played excellent squash but still went down in straight games 9 – 11, 2 – 11, 8 – 11.
The Under 19 No 1 players then took to the court. Akeila Wiltshire was up against her Jamaican counterpart Mary Mahfood. The two players had clashed in the semi- finals of the individual event with Akeila prevailing by three games to one, but Mary was out to prove that she was the better player. Akeila won the first game at seven and then the next game at five and it seemed as if it would only be a matter of time before she secured the victory but this was not to be. Mary won the third game 11 – 7 and then the fourth game 11 – 8 to set up a deciding fifth game. Akeila however held her nerve and won the fifth game 11 – 3.
Next up was Makeda Harding against Under 13 finalist Mia Mahfood. Makeda won the first game 11 – 2 and then came from behind to win the second game 11 – 9. The Guyana team sensing an upset victory, however Mia would not go down lightly. She won the third game 11 – 7 and this seemed to give her confidence as she won the fourth game 11 – 5 and then easily took the fifth game 11 – 2.
The match was now tied at two all and Rebecca Low took to the court to play the deciding match against Sarah Conway. These two players had also met in the quarter-finals of the individual tournament with Rebecca winning the match by three games to two. Rebecca won the first game 11 – 5 and then took the second game 11 – 4. At 7 – 2 up in the third it seemed as if it would only be a matter of time before Rebecca secured the victory but Sarah then got to five before Rebecca secured another point to lead 8 – 5. Rebecca would not win another point and lost the third game 8 – 11. Rebecca again secured a big lead in the fourth game and finally got to match ball at 10 – 8 but Sarah was not giving up and then had her own game ball at 11 – 10 but Rebecca finally prevailed 13 – 11 to secure the game and the match by three games to one to give Guyana victory.
This meant that the Guyana Girls Team had reached to final and will be matched back up against Trinidad & Tobago who had defeated Barbados three games to two in their semi-final match.
The Boys Team then took to the court in their semi-final clash against Barbados.
First on court were the Under 19 No 2 strings and Nyron Joseph easily took care of Dean Straker winning 11 – 4, 12 – 10, 11 – 6.
The match of the day was then to follow. Benjamin Mekdeci was matched against Benjamin Griffith. Mekdeci won the first game fairly comfortably 11 – 6 but then dropped a close second game 8 – 11. Mekdeci won the third game 11 – 7 but the heat of the court was taking its toll and when he lost another close fourth game 8 – 11 it seemed as if Mekdeci was in a lot of trouble. He seemed to re-focus in the fifth game but the game would move back and forth with one player taking the lead then the other coming back. Benjamin Griffith was the first to reach match ball at 10 – 9 but Ben Mekdeci was giving his all. He saved this match ball and Griffith would have several other match balls but all were saved by Mekdeci. Ben Mekdeci finally got a match ball of his own 14 – 13 but could not convert it. Mekdeci then also had several match balls but finally was then able to win the game 17 – 15 and the match three games to two.
It was then left up the Jean Claude Jeffrey to secure victory for Guyana. Jeffrey who was unable to play in the individual Under 19 event because of school commitments in Canada had only arrived in Bermuda Thursday midday and had gone straight on to the court to win his match against Nku Patrick of Trinidad & Tobago in the final group game. Yesterday he was matched up against Stewart St John. He easily won the first game 11- 3 and then won the second game 11 – 7 but the heat of the court was taking its toll but Jean Claude still managed to take the third game 12 – 10. This meant that the Guyana Boys Team had secured their place in the finals as they had secured the first three matches in the tie.
Shomari Wiltshire then took to the court against two time Under 13 Champion Khamal Cumberbatch. He had lost in the semi-finals of the individuals to Khamal three games to love but yesterday Shomari won the first game 11 – 6. Khamal took the second game by a similar 11 – 6 score. The third game would prove to be the crucial game. Shomari served for the game at 11 – 10 but Khamal held his nerve and won the next three points to take the game 13 – 11. The fourth game was also close throughout but Khamal finally won it 11 – 8 to win the match three games to one.
Alex Cheeks then was next up against under 15 Champion Shemane Griffith and was no match losing in straight games 5 – 11, 2 – 11, 3 – 11.
The Girls final will take place at 9.00 am today when Guyana will come up against Trinidad & Tobago and at 12.00 midday the Boys team will come up against Jamaica in the final.

---

---