CAC Games 2018... Squash women’s doubles team lose semi-final match - Men’s hockey team lose to Mexico

CAC Games 2018… Squash women’s doubles team lose semi-final match – Men’s hockey team lose to Mexico

Jul 24, 2018 Sports

Guyana’s Ladies doubles team of Ashley Khalil and Taylor Fernandes (in red) along with their Barbadian opponents.

Guyana’s Ashley Degroot (26) watches on before her keeper, Alysa Xavier, makes a brilliant save against Cuba.

In the Women’s squash doubles, the Guyanese pair of Ashley Khalil and Taylor Fernandes defeated Amanda Haywood and Jada Smith-Padmore of Barbados by 2-1 in the quarterfinal round before losing to Colombia yesterday morning in two straight sets.
After getting past Barbados’ duo of Haywood and Smith-Padmore who are the regional powerhouses, on Sunday, Khalil and former Caribbean Junior Champion Fernandes couldn’t cope with the skill of Laura and Maria Tovar of Colombia. The Guyanese lost the first match 11-8 before surrendering a berth in the final with a 11-3 defeat in the second game.
In Men’s doubles quarterfinals, Guyana’s Sunil Seth and Jason-Ray Khalil lost to the #2 seeded Arturo and Cesar Salazar of Mexico by 0-2. The scores of 6-11 and 8-11 against such world class opposition is testament to the fine performance by the Guyanese pair.
The Guyanese Mixed doubles pair of Nyron Joseph and Mary Fung-a-fat put up a fierce fight against #2 seeds Ricardo Toscano and Winifer Bonilla of Guatemala. At one game each, the Guyanese led by as many as 7-4 before succumbing to their more experienced counterparts, 11-9 in the deciding game.
Meanwhile in hockey, after a great winning start against the Dominican Republic, Guyana men’s hockey team lost to the highly rated Mexican outfit by a 3-0 score line led by a hat-trick from forward Franciso Aguilar Montoya. Aguilar-Montoya goals came in 24th, 31st and 52nd minutes of the match.
On the distaff side, Guyana entered yesterday’s match needing a win against defending gold medallists Cuba. Much like their first match, the Guyanese ladies defended well and handled the Cuban pressure for most of the match with the score dead even on 0-0 at the half.
However, in the 38th minute of play, Cuba would finally get their breakthrough through Yunia Milanes who squeezed a penalty corner rebound past goalkeeper Alysa Xavier who was having another fantastic game for Guyana.
The Guyanese fought on bravely, pressing for the equalizer but the dangerous Cuban forwards were making their own raids to extend the lead as well. Ten minutes before full time, Cuba scored their second and final goal of the match through a swift counterattack and finish by Sunaylis Nikle.
The 2-0 final score and victory for Cuba has placed Guyana in an unlikely position to challenge for a medal in the next round of play. The Guyanese women face favourites Mexico in their final pool round game today at 13:00hrs, Guyana time.