All of the top four ladies and men’s seeds advanced safely last night as action continued at the Barbados Squash Club (BSC) courts in Marine Gardens, Christ Church on Day 2 of the 42nd Barbados Senior National Squash Championships.
The top seed and defending Ladies champion, Karen Meakins, eased past one of Barbados’ promising junior players, Jada Smith-Padmore, in straight games, dropping only four points while the #2 seed, Amanda Haywood, the 2015 Caribbean Under-17 champion, took out the 2015 Caribbean U-13 champion, Sumairaa Suleman, also in straight games 11-5. 11-5, 11-5. The reigning local U-15 and U-17 champion and the 2015 Caribbean GU-15 champion, Meagan Best is seeded at #3/4 and showed her class by comfortably defeating the 2011 Ladies runner-up, Lilianna White, 11-3, 11-3, 11-5 while the most competitive ladies quarter-final match pitted #3/4 seed Muffin Stollmeyer against her mother, Lynn deCambra-McLeod. This match up went with seeding as Muffin defeated Lynn 11-3, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6 in an exciting contest. In the ladies semi-final which begin at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday Meakins faces Best, while Haywood will be opposed by Stollmeyer. Only Meakins has previously reached a National final and will be looking to make her 16th straight appearance there. The three other players left in the ladies draw do not have a finals appearance between them.
In the six men’s quarterfinals played last night, the top seed Gavin Cumberbatch, worked hard to overcome Zaki Williams, in straight games 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 while Gavin’s brothers Rhett and Bryant Cumberbatch who are seeded at #3/4 both recorded easy 3-0 victories over the evergreen Leon Truss and Preston Parris respectively. The youngest of the Cumberbatch clan is the reigning Barbados and Caribbean Under-15 champion, Khamal Cumberbatch (age 14), who is seeded this year at #5/8 and who comfortably vanquished Deepu Panjwani 11-9, 11-5, 11-3 while another #5/8 seed Stewart St. John defeated another local junior, Zachary Proverbs-Harris in a hard hitting contest 11-6, 11-7, 12-10. The #2 seed Shawn Simpson took it easy on long standing administrator Craig Archer, and still ran away with the match 11-3, 11-4, 11-2. Seasoned national team member and captain and four time Caribbean veterans champion, Mark Sealy, had to pull out of the event due to illness and another #5/8 seed, Don Benn, was gifted his contest when his opponent, Tony Mackenzie, had to default due to overseas work commitments.
In the action played last night in the 1st round of the Ladies and Men’s Individual competitions at the BSC the following matches were played:
Ladies Quarter-finals
#1 Karen Meakins (d) Jada Smith-Padmore (3-0) 11-1, 11-2, 11-1
#3/4 Meagan Best (d) Lilianna White (3-0) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5
#3/4 Muffin Stollmeyer (d) Lynn deCambra-McLeod (3-1) 11-3, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6
#2 Amanda Haywood (d) Sumairaa Suleman (3-0) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5
Men’s 2nd Round
#1 Gavin Cumberbatch (d) Zaki Williams (3-0) 11-7, 11-3, 11-9
#5/8 Khamal Cumberbatch (d) Deepu Panjwani (3-0) 11-9, 11-5, 11-3
#5/8 Mark Sealy withdrew ill
#3/4 Rhett Cumberbatch (d) Leon Truss (3-0) 11-4, 11-2, 11-2
#3/4 Bryant Cumberbatch (d) Preston Parris (3-0) 11-3, 11-7, 11-2
#5/8 Don Benn (d) Tony Mackenzie by default
#5/8 Stewart St. John (d) Zachary Proverbs-Harris (3-0) 11-6, 11-7, 12-10
#2 Shawn Simpson (d) Craig Archer (3-0) 11-3, 11-4, 11-2
Both the ladies and men’s competitions continue this week Wednesday and Thursday evening at the BSC starting at 5:30 p.m. All semi-finals will be held on Thursday evening beginning at 6:00 p.m. with the finals being contested on Saturday afternoon, April 9th. Admission to the public is free.
C. Archer
