By Akeem Greene
From August 18-24, the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) will host Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago for the Senior Caribbean Championships.
The venues will be the Georgetown Club on Camp Street and the National Racquet Centre at Woolford Avenue.
President of GSA, David Fernandes, speaking at the official launch at the Georgetown Club on Wednesday afternoon, confidently assured all systems will be in place for a well-organised tournament.
“We will have an unbelievable week where Team Squash Guyana will have a tremendous job of keeping everyone comfortable and making sure the tournament runs smoothly. We have persons in key positions which makes it an exceptional team given the depth,” Fernandes stated.
“The key way to create true social cohesion is through sport and it can even give Guyana an identity. When you go overseas and see that flag in the stadium even though only one Guyana would have won, it makes the entire country proud. I hope the Government in time will be able to do more for sport and youth. Sport is something that needs support so that corporate sponsors do not become overburden with trying to find resources to help everyone,” the GSA head added.
Major Corporate Support
ExxonMobil has continued its partnership with GSA and Senior Director of Public and Government Affairs, Deedra Moe, was on hand to earmark the fruits of the cooperation.
“ExxonMobil Guyana looks at opportunities to support the social and economic development of communities where we live and operate. Development through sport is one of those activities that we feel is an important way to develop youth, leadership skills, team work, patience and perseverance,” Moe stated.
Likewise, Digicel’s Communication Manager Vidya Sanichara expressed, “Youth development is paramount to us and sports is a great to lead into that development. That is why we continue to invest not only in Guyana but also the 32 markets across the Caribbean that we operate.”
Other sponsors include: E-Networks, John Fernandes Trading Limited, National Sports Commission, Connections Travel Service, Bounty Farm Limited and Parc Rayne Event Centre.
Meanwhile, K.A Juman Yassin, President of the Guyana Olympic Association, reminded the likes of Regan Pollard and Nicolette Fernandes of their exploits in the past on court and charged them to strive for excellence and make Guyana proud once more.
Pollard and Fernandes will be joined by Taylor Fernandes, Jason Kahlil, Ashley Kahlil, Mary Fung-A-Fat, Kirsten Gomes, Shomari Wiltshire and Nicholas Verwey among other promising players.
When the tournament was last held in St. Vincent in 2017, Guyana brought second to Barbados despite winning both the Men’s and Women’s team events. The downfall came in the Veterans category.
However, on home turf, Guyana is expected to field a strong veterans team. Men’s veterans are Over 40 and 60 and Women’s are Over 40 and 50.
Apart from the singles, there will be for the first time, Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles. Action starts on Sunday at 09:00h.
Sleepin Hotel on Church Street will act as the home for the visitors, while Banks DIH Limited, through the Rain Forest brand, will be the official water of the championships.
