BARBADOS CLAIMS RECORD MEDAL HAUL ON DAY 3 IN JUNIOR CARIBBEAN SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, July 4, 2017:
To the delight of their assembled parents and other supporters the Barbados squash team duly delivered a record medal haul on the third day of the 35th annual Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association Championships (Junior CASA) that are being held in Georgetown, Guyana. At the end of the individual competition today (Tuesday) Barbadian players had claimed a record six individual gold medals with a further two silver medals and four bronze medals from the ten individual finals contested. This tally was one medal better than Barbados’ previous best result achieved last year (6 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze).
First in the GU-11 category ten year old Rebekah Nichols swept to a confident 3-0 victory in the final against the Guyanese Beau Fernandes to pick up the first Junior CASA gold medal for Barbados while in the BU-11 category Zishan Motara placed third in his first ever Caribbean championship when he defeated Caymanian, Brody McComb, 3-1 in a hard fought contest.
Then as expected, Barbados took the girls’ U-13, U-15 and U-17 titles with ease as the top seeded trio of Barbadian girls, all comfortably claimed their respective titles in straight games.
Sumairaa Suleman easily beat Kirsten Gomes of Guyana 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 to claim her third straight Caribbean U-13 title.
Then Chelsie Samuel won her first Caribbean U-15 title with a comfortable 11-2, 11-5, 11-2 victory over another Guyanese opponent Abosaide Cadogan,
while our 15-year old, national senior ladies squash champion, Meagan Best, won her fifth straight Caribbean junior title by defeating Caymanian Jade Pitcairn in the GU-17 final 11-7, 11-4, 11-1.
Amanda Haywood, playing in her first U-19 final, was unable to secure the clean sweep of girls titles for Barbados and had to settle for the silver medal in an exciting contest, going down in five close games 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11 to the top seeded Guyanese champion Taylor Fernandes.
In other GU-17 matches played Barbadian, Jada Smith-Padmore defeated Guyanese Makeda Harding 3-0 to finish third while her twin sister Jodi Smith-Padmore defeated yet another Guyanese player, Sarah Lewis, 3-1 in a very close contest to win the consolation plate and finish fifth in the same age group.
In the boy’s competition two of Barbados’ gold medalists from last year came out victorious this year as well.
The top seed in the BU-17 age group, Khamal Cumberbatch comfortably defeated his Vincentian rival Kai Bentick 3-0 to win his 5th straight Caribbean title
while Josiah Griffith made it four Caribbean titles in a row by beating home town favourite Ben Mekdeci (Guy) in four games in the BU-19 final 4-11 11-8 11-6 11-4. Barbadian Reginald Brewster also put in a spirited performance to win the BU-19 consolation plate final 3-1 against Alex Cheeks (GUY) and finish 5th.
In the BU-15 age group, Darien Benn, placed third by defeating Bermudian Charlie Riker 3-1 in another close affair, while in the BU-13 age group, left handed Aiden Parris had to settle for the silver medal as he fell 1-3 to the top seeded Caymanian, Jace Jervis. In the same age group, Barbadian, Alex Stewart defeated another Guyanese opponent, Michael Alphonso in four games to snatch the bronze medal.
Four days of team competition for the boys and girls now follow. The defending champions and top seeded Barbadian girls team are looking to win the team event for the third straight year while our boys team will look to knock the defending champion Guyanese boys team off their perch on their home courts. There are 98 players from seven different Caribbean countries competing in this year’s Junior Caribbean Squash Championships from the following seven Caribbean territories: Barbados; Bermuda; Cayman Islands; Jamaica; OECS; Trinidad and Tobago as well as hosts, Guyana.
Recap of Junior CASA Championships Day 3 matches (July 4th), Barbadian players mentioned first:
Girls U-11 Final
Rebekah Nichols def. Beau Fernandes (GUY) 11-1, 11-6, 11–4
GU-13 Final
Sumairaa Suleman def. Kirsten Gomes (GUY) 11-3, 11-4, 11-2
GU-15 Final
Chelsie Samuel def. Abosaide Cadogan (GUY) 11-2, 11-5, 11-2
GU-17 Final
Meagan Best def. Jade Pitcairn (CAY) 11-7, 11-4, 11-1
GU-17 3/4 Playoff
Jada Smith-Padmore def. Makeda Harding (GUY) 11-7, 11-7, 11-2
GU-17 Consolation Plate Final
Jodi Smith-Padmore def. Sarah Lewis (GUY) 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9
GU-19 Final
Amanda Haywood lost to Taylor Fernandes (GUY) 8-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11
Boys U-11 3/4 Playoff
Zishan Motara def. Brody McComb (CAY) 11-1, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5
BU-13 Final
Aidan Parris lost to Jace Jervis (CAY) 5-11, 5-11, 11-7 8-11
BU- 13 3/4 Playoff
Alex Stewart def. Michael Alphonso (GUY) 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-2
BU-15 3/4 Playoff
Darien Benn def. Charlie Riker (BER) 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6
BU-17 Final
Khamal Cumberbatch def. Kai Bentick (OECS – VIN) 11-7, 11-4, 11–6
BU-19 Final
Josiah Griffith def. Benjamin Mekdeci (GUY) 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4
BU-19 Consolation Plate Final
Reginald Brewster def. Alex Cheeks (GUY) 11-5, 2-11, 11-7, 11-3
BARBADIAN JUNIORS ENJOY MIXED RESULTS ON DAY 1, BUT ALL SEEDED PLAYERS ADVANCE TO SEMI-FINALS
Barbadian junior players enjoyed mixed fortunes on the first day of the 35th annual Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships being held from July 2nd to 8th inclusive in Georgetown, Guyana. The individual competition is being held over the first three days with the team event to follow over the last four days. Approximately 100 players from the following seven Caribbean territories are participating this year (Barbados; Bermuda; Cayman Islands; Jamaica; OECS; Trinidad and Tobago as well as hosts, Guyana).
There are ten age group individual events taking place in the Under-11, 13, 15, 17 and 19 categories and the following Barbadian players are seeded at #1 or at #2 and are expected to reach the finals to be held on Wednesday. In the boys competition, Barbadians Josiah Griffith and Alex Stewart are seeded at #2 in the U-19 and U-13 age groups while Khamal Cumberbatch is seeded at #1 in the U-17 draw. All of these players won their respective quarter-final matches 3-0 yesterday (Sunday), to progress to this afternoon’s semi-finals, while in other matches played Barbadian Zishan Motara had two impressive wins on his Junior CASA debut to reach today’s BU-11 semi-final, including a hard fought 3-2 victory over Guyanese Louis DaSilva in the quarter-finals. Little Nathan King also won his debut BU-11 Junior CASA first round match 3-0 but went down 0-3 to the Guyanese #2 seed, Mohryan Baksh, while nine year old Armaan Suleman also making his junior CASA debut lost 0-3 and failed to advance to the U-11 quarter-finals.
The Barbadian girls are particularly strong this year with Amanda Haywood the U-19 #2 seed and Meagan Best (U-17); Chelsie Samuel (U-15) and Sumairaa Suleman (U-13) all seeded at #1. Apart from Suleman, who plays this afternoon, all of these players easily won their respective quarter-final matches 3-0 yesterday to progress to this afternoon’s semi-finals. In other girl’s U-17 quarter-finals played Barbadian Jada Smith-Padmore defeated Jamaican Mia Lake 3-1 while twin sister Jodi Smith-Padmore just failed to advance in a nail biting five game loss to the Guyanese 3/4 seed Makeda Harding. In the GU-11 round robin Barbadian Rebekah Nichols defeated her Guyanese opponent 3-0 and will face two more Guyanese opponents over the next two days.
Full results of Sunday’s matches are given below:
Recap of Day 1 matches (July 2nd):
Boys U-11 (1st round)
Jaydon Williams (OECS) def Armaan Suleman (BAR) 11-1, 11-2, 11-4
Nathan King (BAR) def Shiloh Asregado (GUY) 11-2 11-6 12-10
Zishan Motara (BAR) def Nathan Rahaman (GUY) 11-2 11-3 11-5
BU-11 (Quarter-finals)
Zishan Motara (BAR) def Louis DaSilva (GUY) 6-11 11-7 11-7 9-11 11-7
Mohryan Baksh (GUY) def Nathan King (BAR) 11-2 11-9 11-4
BU-13 (Quarter-finals)
[3/4] Aidan Parris (BAR) def Ethan Jonas (GUY) 11-5 11-5 11-4
[2] Alex Stewart (BAR) def Aman Dhiman (GUY) 11-4 11-6 11-3
BU-15 (Quarter-finals)
[3/4] Darien Benn (BAR) def Sebastian Levy (JAM) 11-5 11-5 11-2
BU-17 (1st round)
Kemar Lord (BAR) def Seth Figueira (TRI) 11-8 11-2 11-0
Anaya Smith (BER) def Chemar Burnham (BAR) 7-11 11-9 11-8 11-9
BU-17 (Quarter-finals)
[1] Khamal Cumberbatch (BAR) def Adam Arditto (JAM) 11-2 11-6 11-6
Taylor Carrick (BER) def Kemar Lord (BAR) 11-6 11-8 11-4
BU-19 (1st round)
Alex Cheeks (GUY) def Reginald Brewster (BAR) 3-11 11-7 10-12 11-8 11-1
Nicholas Caddle(TRI) def Zachary Proverbs-Harris (BAR) 11-6 11-6 11-4
BU-19 (Quarter-final)
[2] Josiah Griffith (BAR) def Rithew Saywack (GUY) 11-4 11-6 11-7
BU-19 (Consolation Plate 1st round)
Reginald Brewster (BAR) def Nicholas Shaw (TRI) 11-4 11-4 11-4
Girls U-11 (Round robin)
Rebekah Nichols (BAR) def Isabella Ramjohn (GUY) 11-1 11-2 11-1
GU-15 (Quarter-finals)
[1] Chelsie Samuel (BAR) def Aliyah Persaud (GUY) 11 -3 11-4 11-5
GU-17 (Quarter-finals)
Makeda Harding (GUY) def Jodi Smith-Padmore (BAR) 11-9 11-8 6-11 4-11 15-13
Jada Smith-Padmore (BAR) def Mia Lake (JAM) 11-4 11-4 6-11 11-9
[1] Meagan Best (BAR) def Sarah Lewis 11-4 11-4 11-5
GU-19 (Quarter-finals)
[2] Amanda Haywood (BAR) def Kali MacLean (CAY) 11-3, 11-1, 11-1
