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)