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Junior CASA tournament serves off today
Guyana ready to defend title on home soil
By Sean Devers
When Guyana dethroned Barbados in 2004 many would not have thought that the
Coach Carl Ince is flanked by Boy’s captain Ben Mekdeci (right) and Girl’s Skipper Taylor Fernandes as Guyana aims to make it 13 in a row. (Sean Devers photo)
team from the South America’s mainland would have captured every other team title since then and as this Country prepares to host the 2017 Junior CASA from today at two venues, the home side is vying for its 13th consecutive Championship.
The Boys team will be led by 18-year-old overseas based Ben Mekdeci, while the Girls team will have Taylor Fernandes, three months Mekdeci’s junior, as their Captain and although 13 is considered an unlucky number to superstitious folk, both teenagers are confident that Guyana can win the tournament which concludes on Saturday.
Guyana last hosted this Event in 2011 and their fans will hope for more success on home soil when the Guyanese begin their campaign this morning from 09:00hrs with four games at the National Racquette Centre on Woolford Avenue and 16 at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street.
Only matches in the individual category, which concludes on Tuesday, will be contested at the Racquet Centre, which have two Courts, while the individuals and team events, which commences on Wednesday evening, the official Opening Ceremony at 16:00hrs on Wednesday and the finals, are slated for the GT Club.
Mekdeci, who for the last 10 months has been studying at Drexel University and playing for their Varsity Squash team, is confident Guyana can keep the spoils at home.
“Compared to what I saw last year the improvement I have seen is shocking and gives us more hope of retaining the title this year,” Mekdeci stated.
Team Guyana wraps up final preparations yesterday for the Junior CASA tournament set to begin in Guyana today. (Sean Devers photo)
The Boys Skipper feels than one of the main reasons for Guyana’s success over the past years is that they have possessed more unity than any of the other teams.
“In addition to us being more unified we have a World Class Coach in Carl Ince and the players have all worked hard on their game. I would say that Barbados is our biggest challenge and there has been a healthy rivalry over the last five years and I don’t see that ending anytime soon,” Mekdeci said.
The talented Squash player has improved due to his exposure to North American Squash and conditions there and said that every year you are expected to get better if you are serious about your game.
“I am confident of re-adjusting to the Courts here and doing well in my final year as a junior. The dimensions of Squash Courts are the same but the ones in the USA are panned Courts and equipped with ACs so there are slightly slower than the ones we have here,” Mekdeci explained.
Mekdeci feels that one thing he can bring to this team is the experience of the high level coaching he is exposed to in the US. “I feel that experience could be very helpful as I work with the kids here,” Mekdeci concluded.
Girls Captain Fernandes says she is pretty confident of success from the girls since they trained hard and put in the work.
“I am pretty confident but I think we could have been even better had school work not affected our preparations a bit,” Fernandes lamented.
“On a personal note I feel I am ready to give a good account of myself this year although I think I could have been fitter,” Fernandes said.
Fernandes, one of the better female junior players in the region, agreed with Mekdeci that Barbados should be Guyana’s biggest challenge and feels that the under-13s and U-19s should produce Guyana’s best performance.
Coach Ince reiterated that he was satisfied with the three months of preparation the team had for this tournament, although at times it was affected by exams.
“I think our best will come from the U-15 Boys led by Shomari Wilshire,” Ince opined.
There will two sessions each day with the first one concluding at 13:30hrs and the evening session commencing at 16:00hrs and admission to both venues is free.
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