SLATER AND MARSH IMPRESS IN BARBADOS SQUASH OPEN
As the Men’s ?B? competition in the 2005 Caribbee / Playfair Barbados Squash Open continued last night (Monday) at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC), Marine Gardens, the most impressive victories came from top Vincentian junior player, Shane Slater, who dropped only seven points against the higher ranked Cliff Nolan, and local tennis pro, Richard ?Bones? Marsh, who looked completely at ease in his first ever squash competition and prevailed against Andrew Nunes in five close games. These two players join six other men in tonight?s Men’s B quarterfinal encounters. The most intriguing match-up appears to be the encounter between former three time national champion, Mickey Armstrong, and the promising former national junior player, Steven Miller, who both had tough matches last night. Armstrong had to recover from a two-game deficit to get past the tricky Ashok Merai by three games to two, while Miller made fewer mistakes than his opponent, Roger Martin, and eventually prevailed in four close games.
Full results of the matches played last night were as follows (all local players unless noted otherwise):
Men’s B ? 2 nd Round
Jason Small defeated Nick Paddison (3-0) 9/0 9/2 9/4
Dean Straker defeated David Lewis (3-1) 9/6 9/10 9/7 9/4
Steven Miller defeated Roger Martin (3-1) 9/6 1/9 9/4 10/8
Mickey Armstrong defeated Ashok Merai (3-2) 4/9 3/9 9/6 9/7 9/1
Tariq Williams (Guyana) defeated Jason Gilkes (3-0) 9/1 9/2 9/1
Shane Slater (St. Vincent) defeated Cliff Nolan (3-0) 9/4 9/1 9/2
Richard ?Bones? Marsh defeated Andrew Nunes (3-2) 9/4 9/1 2/9 8/10 9/4
Peter King defeated Orson Simpson (3-0) 9/6 9/2 10/9
Ladies A ? 1 st Round
Elizabeth Johnson defeated Maia Blackman (3-0) 10/8 9/0 9/4
Carla Jackson defeated Edna Corbette (3-0) 9/3 9/2 9/3
The Men’s ?B? quarter finals and the ?B? plate first round continue this evening from 5:00 p.m. with ten matches scheduled. The ladies open continues on Thursday evening. The top four ladies seeds this year are as follows. Karen Meakins , the five time local Ladies National squash champion is seeded at #1; while Karen Anderson (Jamaica) is at #2 with Alana Simmons (St. Lucia) and Lilianna White at #3/4.
The first round of the Men’s ?A? competition begins tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. The #1 seed in this top-sixteen event is the three time defending champion, Shawn Badrinath (Guyana), while the main local hope will be Barbados’ top player, Gavin Cumberbatch , who has just returned home after completing his undergraduate studies abroad and has been seeded at #2. The #3/4 seeds are Charlie Sonson (St. Lucia) and Steve Smith (Jamaica), and the other seeded players are all from Barbados and include the current national squash champion and national volleyball representative, Shawn Simpson , as well as Marlon White, Mark Sealy and Nigel Griffith.
All this week the squash action at the BSC commences at 5:00 p.m. in the evening. All the finals are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, June 25 th. Admission to the BSC is free each night and s pectators and the press are welcome to attend.
