Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 01, 2014 Sports
By Rawle Welch
The sport of Squash experienced another terrific year with Guyana maintaining its dominance at the junior level, while assuming a similar level of authority at the seniors as well.
Kaieteur Sport (KS) spoke to President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) David Fernandes (DF) via telephone yesterday to get his thoughts on the entity’s performance during 2013 and here are his responses.
KN- How would you describe the year 2013 in terms of what the sport was been able to achieve?
DF-It was a great year for Squash which started off with us winning the junior overall title for the ninth consecutive year, while Nyron Joseph and Benjamin Mekdeci claimed the Under-17 and 15 individual Boys titles. Add to that Victoria Arjoon and Akeila Wiltshire ended runners-up in the U-19 and 17 categories respectively.
KN- Tell us what if any were some of the other significant achievements during the year?
DF-Of course being able to host the senior Caribbean Championships must be rated as a significant undertaking because of the many teams that were present and I must commend the Government of Guyana for assisting in upgrading the facilities, the many corporate entities that offered sponsorship, the GSA executive and parents who all volunteered their time to make the championships a success, while the outstanding performances by the local players, all added up to make the occasion a memorable one for Squash in 2013.
As you now, the crowning moment during the championships was when Guyana won the Women’s overall title for the first time in the tournament’s history, then captured the men’s title and secured the runner-up spot in the veterans division were all noteworthy accomplishments.
Just to reflect on the individual performances, Nicolette Fernandes retained the Ladies title, while Australia-based Sunil Seth appearing for the first time for Guyana finished runner-up in the Men’s Division to Jamaican Chris Binnie. We also had good results from Gillian Lillico, who claimed the Ladies Over-40 crown along with Brendan Mounter’s similar feat in the Men’s Over-50 category, while Ashley Khalil’s third place finish in the Ladies Division must also be rated as a significant accomplishment.
KN- Back on the local scene how would you describe the overall performance of the GSA?
DF- I would rate our performance as outstanding. We were able to run off all our scheduled events, while the attendance in the junior tournaments attracted some of the largest turnouts in recent memory so it shows clearly that the Association is on the right track to enhancing the further development of the sport. From the GSA perspective, we intend to expand the game in the New Year since it offers a bright future for those interested in the sport and who are combining it with their academic pursuits.
Quite a few of our junior players have been awarded scholarships and I can say that players such as Mary Fung-a-Fat, who attends Drexler University in the USA is a prime example of someone who has excelled in both areas and has benefitted in this regard.
It just reinforces the point that if a player is good and backs up that ability on court with that in the classroom there is a good chance that he or she may be able to get a scholarship to attend a University abroad. Involvement in sport makes children more focused and disciplined in most cases academically and this has been a dominant feature in our sport. This is not to say that similar attributes do not exist among the other disciplines so I’m not knocking any other sport.
KN- Would you like to mention anything else of note that occurred during 2013?
DF- Well I would like to remind those who follow the sport that Nicolette started the year ranked at #32 and has since moved up to #19 which I regard as a significant jump at the international level, while I would also like to announce that former junior Caribbean champion Alex Arjoon is about to enter the Professional Circuit and I personally feels that he will do well as long as he commits himself to the intense training that is required to play at the highest level.
In concluding I think that we’ve been able to attain all the benchmarks that we set and I would like to personally thank the entire executive for their support throughout the year.
On behalf of the GSA, I would like to thank the following sponsors for their support throughout the year and before and they are Digicel, Ansa McAl, Banks DIH, Connections Travel Agency, Bounty Farm, Woodpecker Products, Farfan & Mendes and all the others who’ve been there for us when we call.
Meanwhile, Fernandes paid tribute to the late Louis Narine formerly of Margarita’s Gift Shop who recently passed away and who according to him was a former President of the Association and player and someone who was extremely supportive to the sport.
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