Review of Squash in 2019 2019 Senior CASA win for Guyana was highlight of the year

Jan 05, 2020 Sports

By Sean Devers

Guyana won the Men’s & Women’s team titles in addition to the Women’s Singles and Men’s doubles titles as they captured their fourth overall Championship in the 26th Senior CASA Squash at the Georgetown Club.

Nicolette Fernandes, Taylor Fernandes, Ashley Khalil and Mary Fung-a-Fat qualified for the Pan Am Games in Peru.

Guyana, who was last overall Champions in 2013 when the Tournament, which began in 1977 in Bahamas, was held in Guyana, dethroned defending Champions Barbados, winners of the last tournament in 2017 in St Vincent, to push them into the runners-up spot.
Guyana Women beat Barbados 3-2 to capture the team title, while the Men beat Jamaica 3-2 after rebounding from losses in the first two games.
Jamaican Chris Binnie won his ninth Singles title, including eight consecutive titles in the last eight tournaments.
Guyana’s 36-year-old Nicolette Fernandes, playing her first tournament in six years, beat defending Champion 17-year-old Bajan Meagan Best, in the Singles final to capture her sixth Senior CASA title.
The Guyanese pair of Kristian Jeffrey and Jason Ray Khalil won the mixed doubles, while Marlene West and Cameron Stafford from the Cayman Islands took the Mixed doubles, while Bajan pair of Best and Amanda Yearwood captured the Women’s doubles crown when they defeated Guyanese Taylor Fernandes and Ashley Khalil in the final.

2019 Senior CASA Champs Guyana with the Golden Arrow Head.

In the Men’s final against Jamaica, Chris Binnie, who beat Richard Chin in the Singles semis, again beat him.
Julian Morrison beat Caribbean U-17 Champion Shomari Wiltshire, leaving the host nation to win their next three games to capture the team title.
Nyron Joseph beat Tahjia Lumley in a hard fought match, while Kristian Jeffrey beat Dane Schwier and Jason Ray Khalil defeated Bruce Burrows.
The Guyanese Veterans beat Barbados to crown an impressive tournament.
In September, in Pan Am Games qualifiers Guyana women’s team qualified for the 2019 Pan-Am Games in Peru. Their day did not start off very successful, as they took on a powerful Colombian ladies’ team in the quarter finals of the women’s team event.
Although Nicolette Fernandes won, the ladies couldn’t take one more match to advance to the semis and automatically qualify. However, they were placed in the 5/8 draw for another chance to qualify, with a

Shomari Wiltshire continued to grow in stature in 2019.

matchup in the evening session against Brazil.
The win against their neighbours was their ticket to Peru where they failed to Medal.
In the Junior Caribbean Area Squash Championships in Trinidad in July, Guyana won the Boys title while the Bajan Girls, for the fifth consecutive year, won the championship.
“Guyana has three strong individuals, their under-13 representative finished second, their under-15 boy won the title, and under-17 won. So, with that, you could see their team was very strong,” Bajan Coach Shawn Simpson explained, speaking about Gianni Carpenter, Shomari Wiltshire and Daniel Islam. Guyana ruled junior squash for 12 years straight up until 2016.
On the local front:
The finals of the Bounty Farm Ltd. Handicap Tournament were held in February with Alex Arjoon being crowned King, while Nicholas Verwey won Category ‘A’, Samuel Ince-Carvalhal took the Open Plate title and Mohryan Baksh was the Category A winner.
The Toucan Distributors Junior Skill level tournament in March at the Georgetown Club saw matches in

Men’s Singles Champion Jamaican Chris Binnie plays a forehand shot against Richard Chin at the GT Club.

eight categories and saw top seed Shomari Wiltshire in excellent form against Michael Alphonso.
In May, in the Woodpecker Products Junior National Championships at the Georgetown Club, Shomari Wiltshire was crowned Champion for the boys and Abosaide Cadogan for the girls. Both were also awarded Most Outstanding Players. Louis DaSilva took the special award of Most Improved Boy and Tiana Gomes Most Improved Girl.
The last ball hit by Shomari Wiltshire in the final match of the Farfan and Mendes Junior Skill Level Tournament secured his crown.
Wiltshire faced Samuel Ince-Carvalhal who was also unbeaten as they went into the final match. Both youngsters played some great squash and Ince-Carvalhal earned a respectable 7 points in the third game, but the maestro Wiltshire calmly placed his shots and worked the court to achieve a clean slate in the tournament- not dropping a single game.
The level of squash continues to progress with the young players, keeping Guyana firmly at the top of Caribbean Squash.

For the first time in local squash siblings Ashley-Jason Ray-Khalil won the Men’s and Women’s Open titles.

C/bean Singles Squash Queen Nicolette Fernandes (left) beat Bajan Meagan Best in a repeat of the Singles-Final.

THE 2019 KFC Senior National Squash Championships concluded in June at the Georgetown Club with the Khalil siblings creating history by winning the Men’s and Women’s Open titles.
In the Men’s Open, Jason Ray Khalil came from two sets down to eventually wear down former champion, Nyron Joseph, and capture his first Men’s National title.
In the Women’s Open, Ashley Khalil was again crowned national champion as she won a hard-fought four-game victory over Taylor Fernandes.
In the Men’s Classic Plate, Robert Fernandes secured a victory over Peter Michael De Groot.
Kirsten Gomes won the Women’s Classic Plate when she defeated Lydia Fraser.
Nicholas Verwey completed a fine tournament when he won the Men’s Plate over Jonathan Antczak.
In the Men’s Veterans Over- 50 matches Garfield Wiltshire defeated Joe Mekdeci, while Medhi Ramdhani beat Tony Farnum.
In October, the Ansa McAl Lucozade Handicap Tournament climaxed with Nicholas Narain being crowned king after a three-game battle had spectators spellbound with the standard of play. Daniel Ince took the plate title, while Louis DaSilva achieved his first title in the Category A group and Lajaun Munroe nabbed the ‘A’ plate.