The 2004 girl?s team champions, Barbados , clinched third place in the 23rd CLICO Caribbean Junior Squash Championships by defeating Jamaica by three matches to two as the curtain came down last weekend at the Cascadia Squash Club in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Barbados girl?s team was led to victory by the outstanding pair of reigning Caribbean U-15 champion, Cheri-Ann Parris, and Nadia McCarthy in the #1 under-19 position. Parris defeated Jamaican Brooke Burrowes in straight games for the loss of just one point to underscore her dominance in the under-15 age group where she played eight matches in eight days without dropping a single game in the entire tournament. McCarthy, who like Parris won all of her five team matches also won comfortably against Tracy Binnie who retired injured after trailing by two games to love. The vital third victory for Barbados was ensured in the under-13 position where Kennilee Ward won by default because Jamaica had no one in their team in that position. The two Barbadian losses were in the under-17 and Under-19 #2 positions where little Melanie Mark and Zo? Lisk were both outgunned and both lost in straight games to Kristine Bell and Leisa Robotham respectively. In the girl?s team final Trinidad and Tobago edged Guyana in an exciting encounter by three matches to two.
In the boy?s team competition Barbados lost its final match 3-2 against the Cayman Islands to finish last out of eight teams. Barbadians Alex Garcia (U-17) and Jonathan O?Dowd (U-15) both won to give the Bajan lads some hope but nine year old Mikey Cox (U-13) lost in five close games to Matthew Mudeen 6/9 0/9 9/2 9/0 3/9 and then Cayman won both U-19 matches by default to scrape home by the narrowest margin. In the boys team final Guyana defeated Bermuda 3-2 and Jamaica defeated Trinidad by the same score for third place.
The overall team championship was claimed for the 13th time by Guyana with 18 points. Trinidad finished 2nd with 15 points, Bermuda was 3rd (12 pts.) and Jamaica was 4th (11 pts.). Barbados placed fifth overall with 7 points followed by the OECS, Cayman and the Bahamas.
