Solid, disciplined performances from the Barbados ladies and veterans teams on the final afternoon of the 24th Caribbean Senior Squash Championships held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad saw them both defeat their opponents, Guyana and Trinidad respectively by three matches to two to claim team gold medals and ensure Barbados also finished runners-up in the overall team category.
The Barbados veterans team won gold versus Trinidad and Tobago for the 6th successive year and was anchored by superb performances from Andrea Goodridge who played brilliantly to win her second L+40 individual title against Ru Celestine, in straight games 11-5, 11-2, 11-3 while team captain, Mark Sealy, won his 5th individual Caribbean age group title in six years by defeating M+50, John Holley in four games, 5-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-5. But after Barbados’ Don Benn fell to Trinidad’s M+40 champion, Paul Deverteuil 0-3, and M+60 bronze medalist, Leon Truss also lost to his Trinidadian nemesis, Richard Hart 0-3, this left the veterans tie finely balanced at two matches apiece. But in the last match on court, the L+50 silver medalist, Lynn deCambra-McLeod sealed the 3-2 victory for Barbados with a controlled display against the dangerous Trinidadian, Ingrid Lloyd, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 to the delight of the assembled Barbadian spectators. The Barbados vets team finished first, with Trinidad 2nd, Cayman 3rd and Guyana in 4th place in the vets team round robin competition.
A similar pattern took place on the adjacent court 3 at the recently upgraded Queens Park Squash Complex in the Barbados ladies team final versus Guyana. In the #3 position, 16 year old Amanda Haywood, confidently defeated the left handed Akeila Wiltshire 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 to get the ball rolling for Barbados. In the #1 slot, the individual ladies finalist Karen Meakins was too good for Ashley Khalil and won 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 but Guyana then restored parity with a brace of wins. First at #5, Barbadian Muffin Stollmeyer lost to Guyanese teenager, Taylor Fernandes, 6-11, 5-11, 6-11 and then the reigning Caribbean U-19 champion Larissa Wiltshire proved to be a bit too athletic at #4 for Barbados’ Lilianna White who played very well but lost in four close games 6-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11 to leave the tie locked at 2-all. Playing for Barbados at #2 for the very first season, and with the weight of a nation on her 14 year old shoulders, Meagan Best, the reigning Caribbean GU-15 champion and also the youngest ever senior Caribbean ladies champion, did not disappoint. In four hard fought games, the champion Best duly defeated her determined and diminutive Guyanese opponent, Mary Fung-a-Fat, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7 to seal Barbados’ 8th ladies team gold medal in all and to topple their perennial rivals, Guyana who had won this team title for the last three years. Best finished as the only player at these 2016 Caribbean championships to play unbeaten in both the individuals and the team events and the single game she lost against Fung-a-Fat was the only game she dropped in the entire seven days of competition! The Barbados ladies team finished first, with Guyana 2nd, Trinidad 3rd and Bermuda in 4th place.
In other results, in the men’s team final Bermuda defeated Trinidad 3-2 in another nail biting contest that went down to the last match. Guyana finished 3rd and Cayman 4th, with the OECS 5th, Jamaica 6th and, disappointingly, the Barbados men’s team slipped from 4th place in 2015 down to the cellar position this year. In the overall team championships, this lapse proved crucial as hosts Trinidad and Tobago just pipped Barbados to finish first overall, with the defending overall team champions, Barbados slipping to 2nd place with Guyana 3rd , Bermuda 4th, Cayman 5th, OECS 6th and Jamaica, despite having the top two men in the individual competition, slipping down to 7th overall.
At the closing ceremony and trophy presentation held on Sunday night, Meagan Best was given a special award for being the outstanding player of the 2016 championships. Bermuda’s top player, Micah Franklin, was also lauded for his outstanding sportsmanship throughout.
Next year’s Caribbean Senior Squash Championships will be held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in August 2017 while the 35th annual Caribbean Junior Championships will be contested a month earlier in Guyana.
(CA)
