The veteran’s competition in the 33rd edition of the annual Barbados National Squash Championships which is sponsored by Sports Lottery Barbados, the lottery of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc., concluded on Friday night May 4th at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC) with some impressive victories in the various age group finals.
In the ladies over-45 division the top seed, Elizabeth Johnson, calmly defeated her younger, unseeded opponent Audre Spence in straight games 9/1 9/1 9/4 to claim yet another ladies age group title. In the Men’s over-40 final the audience was spellbound as the top seed, Mark Sealy, efficiently deployed an array of tight, straight drives and followed them up with an assortment of accurate straight drops and volleys to dethrone the defending over-40 champion, Nigel Griffith, in straight games 9/1 9/2 9/7 in 38 minutes. Marlon White defeated Roger Martin 3-1 to claim third place and justify his #3 seeding. The eagerly anticipated over-45 final between the top seed Mickey Armstrong and the #2 seed Craig Archer did not take place because Armstrong, who had to travel that day on business, could not return to the island on time due to a badly delayed flight.
The over-50 final turned out to be a much closer affair than it seemed at first. From the start the #2 seed, Orson Simpson, looked to be in complete control against the top seed Errol Pilgrim who seemed surprisingly out of sorts. Simpson moved into a commanding 2-0 lead and led 6-2 and then 7-5 in the third game before he appeared to momentarily lose concentration. In a flash the evergreen Pilgrim seized the initiative and reeled off 13 of the next 14 points to square the match at two games all. The final stanza was a real battle with Simpson deploying his usual assortment of deft flicks and trick shots especially in the front of the court to move into a 7-3 lead before Pilgrim, to the delight of the captivated audience, steadily clawed his way back to 7-all. But one mistake by Pilgrim at 7-7 opened the door for Simpson to step on the gas once more and close out the match in style to claim his first national over-50 squash title 10/8 9/2 7/9 1/9 9/7 in 46 minutes. The #3 seed David Spink easily beat Ronald Watson in straight games to claim third place.
Results from Day 3 on May 4th were as follows:
L+45 Final: Elizabeth Johnson defeated Audre Spence 9/1 9/1 9/4
M+40 Final: #1 Mark Sealy defeated #2 Nigel Griffith 9/1 9/2 9/7
M+40 3rd Place: #3 Marlon White defeated #4 Roger Martin 5/9 9/2 9/3 9/3
M+40 Plate Final (5th): Dean Straker defeated Ricky Edwards 9/7 10/9 9/2
M+45 Final: #2 Craig Archer defeated #1 Mickey Armstrong by default
M+45 3rd Place: #4 Cliff Nolan defeated #3 Leon Truss by default
M+45 Plate Final (5th): Andrew Nunes defeated Ashok Merai 5/9 9/2 9/5 9/4
M+50 Final: #2 Orson Simpson defeated #1 Errol Pilgrim 10/8 9/2 7/9 1/9 9/7
M+50 3rd Place: #3 David Spink defeated #4 Ronald Watson 9/6 9/2 9/1
The Barbados National Closed Squash Championships will begin on Monday May 7th at the BSC starting at 5:45 p.m. and continuing each evening at that same time. You can follow the action day by day by downloading the updated tournament draw by following the link below.
B’dos National Championships 2007 (Veterans) – Day 3 – file no. 1
