Caribbean Junior Squash Championships 2015 to be held in Barbados from 18th to 25th July! For information and results, check here.
Author Archives: Andy Gill
Barbados are 2012 Senior CASA Champs!
Barbados are the Caribbean squash champions for the third successive year.
All three Barbados teams won their respective ties on the final day of the 20th annual Caribbean Squash Championships at the Cascadia Squash Courts in Trinidad on Saturday.
Two of those ties were finals as the women’s team and the veterans’ squad both retained their team titles, while the men’s team finished third, one better than last year.
In the tense women’s final, the No. 2 seeded Barbados toppled the top ranked from Guyana 4-1, with three of the matches going the full distance to five games.
Fifteen-year-old Gylla Mackenzie, playing on the senior Barbados team for the first time, defeated Tiffany Solomon 3-2 to start the ball rolling for Team Barbados.
Nadia McCarthy played the match of her life, and saved three match balls in the fourth game before taking that game to a tie break against Guyana’s Victoria Arjoon before confidently taking the fifth to win 3-2.
In the No. 1 string position, Guyana’s Caribbean individual champion Nicolette Fernandes pulled one back by defeating Barbados’ Karen Meakins three straight games in a repeat of the individual final.
Alex Jordan sealed the victory for Barbados by confidently outplaying Guyana’s Ashley DeGroot 3-1.
Cheri-Ann Parris put the icing on the cake by overcoming reigning Caribbean Under-19 champion Mary Fung-a-Fat 3-2.
The Barbados Vets team pulled off a close 3-2 victory over Trinidad and Tobago while the men’s team comfortably defeated the OECS 4-1 to place third.
In the overall team championships, Barbados placed first for the third successive year, with Trinidad and Tobago placing second and Guyana third.
Trinidad and Tobago won the men’s team final, defeating Guyana in a pulsating contest.
Barbados are 2011 Senior CASA Champs!
They like their 3-2 matches do the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) team – having come from behind in both their pool matches, they did it again in the final to claim the title for a first time (well, at least since 1977), going one better than last year’s second spot.
Barbados Ladies once again proved too good for the rest in a women’s team tournament which featured just three entries.
Barbados knew that the overall team title (based on a points system over Men’s, Women’s and Vets teams) could be theirs, but their first priority was to maintain their unbeaten record in the final pool match against Cayman to avoid any possibility of a complicated countback with themselves, Cayman and Jamaica.
Many-time Cayman champion John MaCrury got the hosts off to a good start, coming from 2-1 down to beat Nigel Griffith and claim the Men’s 50+ title in the process. After that though it was all Barbados as they reeled off the next four matches to take the Vets, and the Overall titles. In the process Mark Sealy and Kristina Evelyn maintained their unbeaten records to take the Men’s and Women’s 40+ titles. That rendered Jamaica’s win over T&T irrelevant in terms of team titles – they finished second in the Vets and the Overall, as well as in the Men’s – but it did mean that Douglas Beckford and Gill Binnie took the Men’s Over-60 and Women’s Over-50 titles.
Guyana are 2011 Junior CASA Champs!
Guyana cemented their dominance of Caribbean squash by winning the team title on July 14 in the Caribbean Areas Squash Association and Digicel sponsored Junior Squash Championships 2011. This is the seventh consecutive year the local side has won the competition. The impressive performance in the singles stage of the championships was carried over into the team segment and the result was Guyana being declared the overall winners in the weeklong competition.
In the male team finals it appeared that a competitive afternoon of squash was expected since heading into the third match of the afternoon the scoreline read 1-1. Alex Arjoon however shifted the balance in favour of the hosts and dispatched his Trinidadian counterpart in a hard fought 5 set match. After that there was no turning back and the remainder of the male team marched on to a convincing 4-1 victory over their island neighbours.
Earlier in the day the female side sealed the team title in similar style suffering only one match loss to Jamaica. The most exciting match in the female team finals was between Guyana’s Akeila Wiltshire and Jamaica’s Mary Jo Mahfood. Wiltshire was tested by a mixture of aggressive strokes and soft touches by the talented Jamaican. After dropping the second and fourth game the tenacious Wiltshire bounced back in impressive fashion to win 11/6 9/11 11/6 6/11 11/9.
The senior squad will be keen on taking some of the confidence drawn from their junior colleagues when they compete in the CASA senior tournament to be hosted by the Cayman Islands in August. Next year looks to be challenging since five players from the victorious side will be elevated to the senior platform. That development will mean that new players without regional exposure will have to take over. The coaching staff is nonetheless confident of going 8-straight in 2012. For now the team is relishing in their hard fought victory.
Barbados are 2010 Senior CASA Champs!
Barbados fulfilled their potential to become Overall Caribbean Squash Team Champions for the first time since 2005, and for the fourth time in all. Going into final day of the prestigious team competition in the 18th Senior Caribbean Squash Championships, which were held at the National Squash Centre in Kingstown, St. Vincent, Barbados knew that if either the Veterans team or Ladies team won their finals against defending champions Trinidad and Tobago then they would clinch their third overall team title in the past five championships and their fourth in all.
The Veterans team were first up at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. Barbadian, Leon Truss, was defeated by the Caribbean Over 60 champion, Richard Hart, but Barbados took a 2-1 lead when Marlon White and Jeannette Cullen confirmed their second place rankings in the Caribbean Over-40 age group with 3-0 victories over Trinidad’s Mark Laughlin and Diane Julien respectively. Next on court in the Over-50 slot, Barbados’ Lynn McLeod then had her chances against Sonia Carrington but was unable to breakthrough and secure the win. A courageous performance by Barbados’ veteran’s team captain, Nigel Griffith, in the men’s Over 50 match against long time rival John Holley was a fitting end to the veteran’s championship. The fourth game was agonisingly tense with Griffith having game balls to level the match score at 2-2 but it was the tall Trinidadian player that came through 12-10 in front of a vociferous crowd to win 3-1 and seal the Veteran team title for the jubilant Trinidadian veterans team by three matches to two.
Meanwhile on court two of the National Squash Centre in Kingstown, St. Vincent the Barbados Men’s team had reached precisely the same position in the tie against Jamaica to decide the Bronze medal. Good wins for the Cumberbatch brothers, Rhett and Gavin at #4 and #2 respectively had been cancelled out by Jamaica when in the #5 position Barbados’ Jonathan O’Dowd lost in four games to Warren Burrowes and at #1 where Shawn Simpson had done well to get to 2-0 up against former Caribbean men’s Champion, Chris Binnie, before showing the effects of his foot injury sustained earlier in the week, losing by two games to three. In the final match in the #3 position, Mark Sealy, whose win over Guyana on the first day of the team event had propelled Barbados into the semi-final, fell just short of defeating Dane Schwier in four close games and once again Barbados had stumbled at the final hurdle and finished the Men’s team competition in fourth position.
And so it was left to the Barbados ladies team to play Trinidad and Tobago in a winner take all tie. The winners would take both the Caribbean Ladies Team Championship and the Overall Caribbean Team Championship which is calculated from the points won in each of the men’s, ladies, and veterans team competitions.
With Barbados strong favourites in two of the five matches with Karen Meakins and Cheri-Ann Parris likely winners in the #1 and #2 positions, the first match on court was vital for both teams. In that first match Barbados’ #5 player, Bo Harris, proceeded to seal Trinidad’s fate. Harris was playing Nakita Poon Kong whom she had defeated in the individual competition in a seedings upset. Despite some initial nerves Harris was moved well around the hot court and continued her good form to win 3-0 to the obvious disappointment of the Trinidad team who now knew it was going to be an uphill struggle from there.
At #2, Cheri-Ann Parris overpowered Rhea Khan 3-0 in an athletic and dominant performance that left Khan grasping at straws, with everything she tried being countered by Parris. Barbados now had to win just one more match of the remaining three. The entire Barbados team watched and cheered every rally as ladies captain Karen Meakins, the 2010 Caribbean Ladies Individual Champion, duly repeated her victory in straight games from that final against Trinidad’s #1, Kerrie Sample, to secure the Championships for Barbados. Meakins now travels to Germany to contest the World Over 35 Championship.
With victory already assured Lilianna White put the icing on the cake for Barbados with an excellent 3-1 win in the #4 position against individual semi-finalist, Amy Gillezeau, but in the last match, Barbados’ former ladies captain, Sonia Perkins, lost in straight games to the promising Trinidadian, Joanna Scoon. Special mention must go to Perkins, however, who had sacrificed her chance to defend her Caribbean Ladies Over 40 title to instead strengthen the Ladies team with the aim of ensuring that the Ladies and Overall Caribbean Team titles were secured for Barbados in 2010.
The BSA’s Director of Squash Jonathan Gallacher who was coaching the team commented: “I am extremely proud of all the players who each performed magnificently. Their success is based on hard work and preparation in the last three months prior to the Championships. We went there to win and we brought home the bacon.”
Gallacher continued: “For me this is just the start. The Barbados Squash Association has worked hard to re-establish themselves as top dogs in the Caribbean and we are extremely grateful for the financial and other support given by the Barbados Olympic Association and the National Sports Council to help us achieve what we have so far this year. The aim now is to build upon this success by finding the financial resources to build more squash courts in Barbados and introduce squash to a continuous stream of new talent.” The results on the final day were as follows:
Ladies Team Final: Barbados beat Trinidad 4-1 (B’dos players named first)
Karen Meakins beat Kerrie Sample 3-0
Cheri-Ann Parris beat Rhea Khan 3-0
Sonia Perkins lost to Joanna Scoon 0-3
Lilianna White beat Amy Gillezeau 3-1
Bo Harris beat Nakita Poon Kong 3-0
Veterans Team Final: Barbados lost to Trinidad 2-3
Men’s Over 40 – Marlon White beat Mark Laughlin 3-1
Men’s Over 50 – Nigel Griffith lost to John Holley 1-3
Men’s Over 60 – Leon Truss lost to Richard Hart 0-3
Ladies Over 40 – Jeannette Cullen beat Diane Julien 3-0
Ladies Over 50 – Lynn McLeod lost to Sonia Carrington 0-3
Men’s Team Final: Bermuda beat OECS 4-1 (Bermuda players named first)
Patrick Foster beat Joe Kneipp 2-1 retired injured
Nick Kyme lost to Joe Chapman 1-3
Robert Maycock beat James Bentick 3-0
Micah Franklin beat Kevin Hannaway 3-0
Chris Stout beat Kevin Bailey 3-1
Men’s Team 3rd/4th Place Playoff: – Barbados lost to Jamaica 2-3
Shawn Simpson lost to Chris Binnie 2-3
Gavin Cumberbatch beat Bruce Burrowes 3-0
Mark Sealy lost to Dane Schwier 1-3
Rhett Cumberbatch beat Joey Levy 3-0
Jonathan O’Dowd lost to Warren Burrowes 1-3
Final team results are as follows:
Ladies:
1st – Barbados
2nd – Trinidad & Tobago
3rd – OECS
4th – Cayman
Veterans:
1st – Trinidad & Tobago
2nd – Barbados
3rd – OECS
4th – Cayman
5th – Guyana
Men:
1st – Bermuda
2nd – OECS
3rd – Jamaica
4th – Barbados
5th – Trinidad & Tobago
6th – Guyana
7th – Cayman
Overall:
1st – Barbados – 23 pts
2nd – Trinidad & Tobago – 22 pts
3rd – OECS – 20 pts
4th – Cayman – 12 pts
5th – Bermuda – 10 pts
6th – Guyana – 7 pts
7th – Jamaica – 6 pts
Veteran’s Individual Placings:
Men’s Over 40:
1st – Paul Cyrus (OECS); 2nd – Marlon White (BAR); 3rd – Mark Laughlin (TRI)
Men’s Over 50:
1st – John MacRury (CAY); 2nd – John Holley (TRI); 3rd – Nigel Griffith (BAR)
Men’s Over 60:
1st – Richard Hart (TRI); 2nd – Leon Truss (BAR); 3rd – Leroy Lewis (OECS)
Ladies Over 40:
1st – Janet Sairsingh (CAY); 2nd – Jeannette Cullen (BAR); 3rd – Dianne Julien (TRI)
Ladies Over 50:
1st – Sherian Slater (OECS); 2nd – Sonia Carrington (TRI) – 3rd – Lynn DeCambra-McLeod (BAR)
Final Results from the Individual Championships:
Ladies:
1st – Karen Meakins (BAR)
2nd – Kerrie Sample (TRI)
3rd – Cheri-Ann Parris (BAR)
4th – Amy Gillezeau (Trinidad & Tobago)
5th – Lilianna White (BAR)
6th – Rhea Khan (TRI)
7th – Bo Harris (BAR)
8th – Alex Jordan (BAR)
Men:
1st – Richard Chin (GUY)
2nd – Chris Binnie (JAM)
3rd – Patrick Foster (BER)
4th – Shawn Simpson (BAR)
5th – Nick Kyme (BER)
6th – Cameron Stafford (CAY)
7th – Bryant Cumberbatch (BAR)
8th – Colin Ramasra (TRI)
2010 Junior CASA Results
Results can be found here.
Trinidad are 2009 Champs!
What a day … pretty much every match went down to the wire,
throwing the schedule into chaos. At the end of the day – the
very end, five minutes to midnight – Trinidad and Tobago
completed a remarkable treble.
The news just got better and better as the night went on … not
only did they claim their first ever CASA title, they made it a
hat-trick as they took the Men’s Team, the Women’s Team, and the
all-important Overall title to boot.
Guyana take titles in 2009 Junior CASA Squash
Both the Boy’s and Girls finals were keenly contested ties between the defending champions Guyana, who played like true champions to bring home gold once again.
The girl’s final finished as expected with Guyana winning three matches to two by winning the U-17, U-15 and U-13 age groups. The boy’s final was pulsating right from the start of the tie. Trinidad had banked that their U-17, Kale Wilson would win as his opponent, Alex Arjoon, had not looked himself all week. Arjoon had, however, saved his best squash for last and after a close first game which he won 14-12 dominated thereafter to win the next two games at 4 and 6 respectively to set things up nicely.
Trinidad’s Caribbean U-15 champion, Mandela Patrick, brought the score back to 1-1 with a comfortable win in straight games 11-2, 11-5, 11-4. The next two matches at U-19 #1 and #2 were both very close, but each time the Guyanese players DeGroot (U-19 #1) or Dias (U-19 #2) seemed to be out of it the cheering of the vocal Guyanese supporters seemed to draw from them fresh reserves and they both won in five games to give Guyana an unassailable 3-1 lead. The dead rubber was then won by Trinidad’s Nku Patrick in four games.
Guyana has now made history as the only country to sweep all three team titles in two consecutive years.
Final Positions, Girls: Guyana (1st); Trinidad & Tobago (2nd); Jamaica (3rd); Bermuda (4th); Barbados (5th); Cayman (6th); OECS (7th).
Final Positions, Boys: Guyana (1st); Trinidad & Tobago (2nd); OECS (3rd); Bermuda (4th); Cayman (5th); Barbados (6th); Jamaica (7th).
2007 Results & Cancellation of Team Event
Greetings to one and all!
As we reflect on the events of the past few days, there are a number of things which spring to mind. Our first responsibility is to give thanks for all of our squash community who escaped the wrath of Hurricane Dean. Some have experienced problems, but it has been gratifying to hear the reports of people getting home safely and to see that Jamaica escaped the direct hit which had been predicted and was expected.
The disappointment of having the first CASA Championships in 30 years aborted must be tempered by many factors. The Tournament was heading towards a dramatic climax, which is not unusual in this form of Team Event. We will not have winners in the Team Categories,the Overall as well as Individual Veterans, but we do have two very deserving and worthy Individual Champions.
Gavin Cumberbatch (B’dos) has clearly worked very hard to become 2007 Men’s Champion and is to be heartily congratulated. He achieved a few other firsts in doing so. Karen Anderson (J’ca) has taken a Double Gold, as she not only achieved a long held ambition to be Caribbean Ladies Champion, but ran the Tournament in her capacity as Acting Chairperson in an exemplary way. My congratulations to them both.
The Jamaica Squash Association (JSA) should be proud for taking this event and running it efficiently, even as they reflect on what could have been. JSA President, Maj. John Nelson and his team did a great job. We may not have ended up with some winners, but there were no losers.
There are a number of unresolved issues going forward, as we were unable to hold the General Meeting of the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA). In the shortest possible time these will be discussed by the CASA Executive and the Country Representatives and information will be communicated on these matters.
May I wish you all the very best, and we look forward to meeting old friends again shortly.
Douglas Beckford
CASA President
2007-08-20
Guyana win 2004 SCC Title
Guyana made a clean sweep of the Banks Mini Malta-sponsored Southern Caribbean Squash Championships by winning both the men’s and ladies’ team titles yesterday at the Georgetown club
Guyana’s ladies defeated Barbados by a 4-1 margin, while the local men won by a similar margin also over Barbados.
In the veterans’ category, only Dennis `Big Youth’ Dias kept the Golden Arrowhead aloft, winning three games in as many matches. He was crowned Southern Caribbean men’s over-50 `King’ at last night’s presentation.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, Guyana Squash Asso-ciation President Andrew Arjoon said: “I’m really happy and proud of the team’s performance. They worked very hard during the year to ensure they won this championship and their hard work has paid off.”
Arjoon said he is pleased with the way the championships have been conducted and thanked all the hard-working persons for their support.
He made special mention of Banks’ Mini Malta, the major sponsor of the championships as well as the other corporate sponsors who came forward in a time of need.
In last night’s men’s results: Shawn Badrinauth defeated Gavin Cumberbatch 9/7, 4/9, 9/5, 9/3; Robert Fernandes beat Shawn Simpson 5/9, 9/4, 9/4, 9/2; Damien DaSilva edged Rhett Cumberbatch 9/6, 7/9, 9/3, 10/9; Regan Pollard lost to John Cumberbatch 5/9, 6/9, 7/9; Ramon Chan-A-Sue lost to Marlon White 7/9, 6/9, 6/9.
Earlier yesterday, Guyana’s women beat Barbados 4-1 through victories from Nicolette Fernandes, Gillian Griffith-Lillico, Kathy Shuffler and Denise Jeffrey. Chantelle Fernandes lost her match.
Nicolette Fernandes beat Karen Meakins 9/4, 10/8, 9/6; Shuffler beat Lilianna White 9/2, 9/2, 9/6; Griffith-Lillico defeated Andrea Goodridge 9/0, 9/3, 9/6; Jeffrey beat Nadia McCarthy 9/4, 9/1, 9/3; Chantelle Fernandes lost 9/0, 6/9, 7/9, 5/9.
Yesterday also, OECS ladies beat Trinidad 4-1.
Cheryl Renwick beat Cathy Martin 3-0; Greta Primus defeated Tessa Martin 3-0; Alanna Simmons beat Dianne Julien 3-0 and Lindy Alexander beat Joanna Scoon 3-0. Both teams had only four ladies.
In the veterans’ category, OECS won 3-0 through victories from Sherian Slater who beat Michelle Cornelliac 3-0 in the ladies over-40; Jon Osmon who defeated Lewis Smith 3-0 in the men’s over-50; and Colin Alexander who secured a walk-over from the injured John Holley.
On Friday evening, Guyana defeated OECS. In the men’s competition, Shawn Badrinauth defeated James Bentick 9/1, 9/1, 9/0; Robert Fernandes defeated Charlie Sonson 1/9, 9/7, 9/0, 9/7; Ramon Chan-a-Sue lost to Karl Nassief 10/8, 6/9, 6/9, 2/9; Damien DaSilva defeated Dion Anselm 9/4, 9/4, 9/0; Jerry Bell defeated Shane Slater 9/1,9/1,9/4.
Guyana’s ladies also defeated OECS 5-0, while in the veterans category Guyana lost to OECS 1-2. Guyana’s lone winner was Dennis Dias who beat Jon Osmon 9/6, 2/9, 9/6, 9/0 in the men’s over-50.
And then there was the after-party!
