The 29th annual Sagicor General Junior National Squash Championships are underway

The annual Sagicor General Junior National Squash Championships got underway at the Barbados Squash Club, Marine Gardens, Christ Church on Friday April 17th with 8 girls and 20 boys competing in mainly round robin formats in the following age groups: (U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17, U19).

This tournament also marked the official start of the local squash calendar and also introduced a new universal scoring system to the juniors in Barbados ? i.e. Point a Rally to 11 (or PAR-11). This new system was adopted by the world governing body, the World Squash Federation, at its AGM in October 2008 and came into effect worldwide from April 1, 2009.

The top seeded player in each age group is as follows:

Girls under-19: #1 Cheri-Ann Parris – who is playing in her final local junior tournament and who will be striving to win her record equaling fifth straight GU-19 title and to set a new record for girls by winning her ninth national age group title.

Girls under-17: #1 Zoe Lisk – who will be looking to win her third age group title and her first at this level.

Girls under-15: #1 Asha Gibbs ? the defending champion who will be seeking her third age group title.

Girls under-13: #1 Gylla Mackenzie ? the defending champion who will be also seeking her third age group title.

Boys under-19: #1 Ciaran Raymer ? the defending champion, who reached his first national final last year.

Boys under-17: #1 Jonathan O?Dowd ? the defending champion and already a 3-time age group title holder.

Boys under-15: #1 Stewart St. John ? who will be seeking his first ever national age group title.

Boys under-13: #1 Brandon Straker ? who will be also seeking his first ever national age group title.

Boys under-11: #1 Danny Chesham ? last year?s runner-up who is also seeking his first national title.

Results from Friday April 17th were as follows:

GU-19 (round robin):
Cheri-Ann Parris beat Kennilee Ward 11-2 11-0 11-4

GU-17 (round robin):
Zoe Lisk beat Dail Rose 11-1 11-3 11-1
Zoe Lisk beat Gena Knight 11-0 11-2 11-1
Zoe Lisk beat Gylla Mackenzie 11-3 11-4 11-5
Kennilee Ward beat Dail Rose 11-1 11-2 11-4
Kennilee Ward beat Gena Knight 11-0 11-0 11-3
Asha Gibbs beat Gena Knight 11-3 11-1 11-2
Asha Gibbs beat Gylla Mackenzie 12-10 13-11 1-11 11-6

BU-19 (round robin):
Ciaran Raymer beat Matthew Mackenzie 11-7 12-10 12-10
Ciaran Raymer beat Haiden Ward 11-9 11-7 9-11 11-4
Jonathan O?Dowd beat Haiden Ward 11-8 11-7 11-5
Ryan Foster upset Jonathan O?Dowd 14-12 11-8 7-11 2-11 11-3

BU-17 (round robin):
Jonathan O?Dowd beat Stewart St. John 11-7 11-6 11-2
Matthew Mackenzie beat Stewart St. John 11-5 11-5 11-6
Matthew Mackenzie beat Moishe Steinbok 11-5 6-11 11-9 10-12 11-9
Moishe Steinbok beat Zaki Williams 11-3 11-5 11-7

BU-15 (round robin):
Stewart St. John beat Richard Perkins 11-5 11-3 11-0
Zaki Williams beat Richard Perkins 11-9 11-6 11-7
Zaki Williams beat Sachin Amin 11-7 11-7 12-10
Joe Tingy beat Sachin Amin 10-12 11-9 11-9 11-8

BU-13 (round robin):
Brandon Straker beat Ryan Mison 11-1 11-4 11-2
Brandon Straker beat Richard Perkins 11-1 11-7 11-6
Sebastian Straker beat Richard Perkins 11-7 11-0 11-3
Sebastian Straker beat Danny Chesham 11-5 11-6 11-6
Ben Duckhouse beat Danny Chesham 5-11 11-9 11-8 11-9
Ben Duckhouse beat Ryan Mison 11-7 11-5 11-6

BU-11 1st Round:
Xavier Lisk beat Anish Persaud by default
Khamal Cumberbatch beat Ishan Persaud by default
Ryan Mison beat Rithew Saywack 11-9 11-3 11-2

BU-11 Semi-final
Danny Chesham beat Xavier Lisk 11-2 11-0 11-1

Matches begin at 9:30 a.m. today (Saturday) and will continue all day and culminate with the final Boy?s Under-19 match which is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.