BARBADOS OFF TO PERFECT START
Both the Barbados girls and boys teams made excellent starts in their respective round robin ties on the first day of the team competition in the 34th annual Caribbean Junior Squash Championships being held this year in the Cayman Islands.
The Barbados girls team took to the court versus Bermuda at 2:00 p.m. Barbados time on Tuesday and completely dominated their opponents by winning 5-0 in matches. In the girls’ U-13, U-15 and U-17 age groups the Barbadians won easily by three games to love as this local trio are all reigning Caribbean champions. Sumairaa Suleman (U-13) defeated Ariana Lowther 11/1, 11/3, 11/1, Meagan Best (U-15) beat Abigail Brewer 11/1, 11/0, 11/2 and Amanda Haywood (U-17) overcame Charlotte Toogood 11/5, 11/0, 11/3. The really impressive performances came in the U-19 #1 and U-19 #2 spots where 13 year old Chelsie Samuel, defeated Tiye William 7/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/9 and then 14-year old Jada Smith-Padmore defeated Madelaine Rose 11/2, 11/2, 11/7 to complete the rout, to the delight of the Barbadian parents and supporters in the crowd. In the girl’s team competition this year Barbados is in a single pool of six countries and will play Jamaica on Wednesday.
Jubilant Bajan supporters celebrate the girls team 5-0 victory over Bermuda.
In the boy’s competition Barbados is in Pool B with Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda and the OECS, while the top seed and defending champions, Guyana, are in Pool A with Jamaica and hosts Cayman Islands. Barbados played well and vanquished the OECS by four matches to one yesterday, with our BU-13 Darien Benn defeating Luca Reich 11/4, 11/8, 11/5. Khamal Cumberbatch (BU-15) defeated Kai Bentick 11/6, 11/7, 11/6 and the left handed Reggie Brewster, (BU-17) overcoming Mikal Quashie 11/2, 11/5, 11/5. Boy’s team captain, Benjamin Griffith, lost in five close, hard fought games in the U-19 #1 slot to the silver medalist this year, Jason Doyle, 1/11, 3/11, 11/6, 11/7, 3/11 and in the U-19 #2 slot Zachary Proverbs-Harris won by default as the OECS boys team only has four players.
Four more days of team competition for the boys and girls now follow. The defending champions and top seeded Barbadian girls play this evening against Jamaica while earlier today the #2 seeded boys team took on Trinidad and Tobago in pool play, defeating them 5-0. There are 111 players from seven different Caribbean countries competing in this year’s Junior Caribbean Squash Championships.
(The attached photo of the delighted Barbadian supporters after the girls 5-0 victory comes courtesy of Steve Cubbins and www.squashsite.co.uk)
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[All photos courtesy of Steve Cubbins and www.SquashSite.co.uk]
