The 35th annual National Squash Championships, sponsored by the Barbados Olympic Association Inc., continued last night (Wednesday) May 27th and there was one significant upset in the first round of the Men’s Main Draw when National Team player and one of the top eight seeds, Fabian Goodridge, was found wanting by the excellent all court game displayed by the talented and unseeded Mark Gilkes, who won going away in straight games. During the hard fought first game in which Goodridge led nearly all the way and, in fact, had two game balls at 11-10 and 12-11, Gilkes reeled off the finally three rallies to win this game 14-12 in 12 minutes. Buoyed by that success Gilkes then attacked from the start of the second and after pulling back from 4-6 down to 6-all in the middle of this game, never trailed again in the match which he won convincingly 14-12, 11-6, 11-4 in 25 minutes. The seven other seeded players all cruised into their respective quarter-finals in straight games apart from brothers, Bryant and Rhett Cumberbatch who both dropped the second game in their matches versus Don Benn and Leon Truss respectively.
One other result of significance was in the first round of the Ladies Open where little Gylla Mackenzie convincingly defeated her older National Junior teammate Kennilee Ward (16 yr. old) in four games 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4 to become one of the youngest ever Ladies’ quarter-finalists in the 35 year history of the Barbados National Squash Championships at only 12 years and 3 days old..
The following thirteen matches were played last night at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC), Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church:
Ladies 1st Round
Gylla Mackenzie def. Kennilee Ward (3-1) 11-7, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4
Men’s Main Draw 1st Round
#1 Shawn Simpson def. Mickey Armstrong by default
Mark Gilkes def. #5/8 Fabian Goodridge (3-0) 14-12, 11-6, 11-4
#5/8 Nigel Griffith def. Cliff Nolan (3-0) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7
#4 Bryant Cumberbatch def. Don Benn (3-1) 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8
#3 Mark Sealy def. Roger Martin (3-0) 11-3, 11-3, 11-4
#5/8 Marlon White def. Charles Chambers (3-0) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6
#5/8 Rhett Cumberbatch def. Leon Truss (3-1) 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10
#2 Gavin Cumberbatch def. Tony Mackenzie (3-0) 11-8, 11-7, 11-9
Men’s Plate ? 1st Round
Matthew Mackenzie def. Michael Best (3-0) 11-7, 11-4, 11-9
Stewart St. John def. Edwin Wickham (3-0) by default
Jonathan O?Dowd def. David Spink (3-0) 12-10, 11-7, 11-8
Ruairidh (Rory) Mackenzie def. Nigel Nicholls (3-0) 11-2, 11-2, 11-4
Matches will be even more competitive from this evening (Thursday) as both the Ladies and Men’s quarter-finals will be played, as well as the first round of the Ladies Plate, the second round of the Men’s Plate, and the first round of the Men’s Consolation Plate. All told a total of 17 matches will be played this evening, beginning from 5:45 p.m.
The fully updated championship draw can be downloaded by clicking on the link below:
Matches begin at 5:45 p.m. both today and tomorrow (Friday). All finals will be played this Saturday, May 30th beginning from 2:00 p.m. with the last match, the Men’s final, scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. The presentation of trophies for this tournament and the National Veterans Championships that preceded it two weeks ago will be held in BSC court #1 immediately following the Men’s final on Saturday afternoon.
