Hosts Guyana were crowned champions of the Senior Caribbean Squash Championships after dethroning Barbados in a tense finish at the Georgetown Club on Saturday evening.
The Guyanese accumulated 52 points to edge the Bajans by five points, while Cayman Islands finished third with 28 points.
Trinidad and Tobago (23 points), British Virgin Islands (18 points), Bermuda (18 points), Jamaica (14 points) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (12 points) rounded off the table in that order.
The overall victory for Guyana was mainly down to retaining both the Men’s and Women’s titles, along with an improved showing in the Veterans category, which saw the graceful Denise Jeffrey copping the Women’s 50 and over Caribbean title.
She topped Barbadian Lynn DeCambra-McLeod 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4 in a match which had the crowd at the club in a most vociferous mode.
The ageing legs of Regan Pollard battled hard and went the full distance with Barbadian Mark Gilkes in the Men’s 40 and over clash, but Gilkes just had the extra nudge to seal the memorable victory 11-4, 11-6, 7-11, 6-11, 13-15. Had Pollard won, Guyana would have made a clean sweep of the team events.
Barbados won the veterans, Guyana second and Bermuda third.
In the Men’s team event final, Guyana had an uphill task given that nine-time Singles champion Christopher Binnie was leading an enthusiastic Jamaica unit. Guyana, represented by Kristian Jeffrey, Jason-Ray Khalil, Shomari Wiltshire, Richard Chin and Nyron Joseph, won 3-2 with Joseph being the man to bring home the victory.
On the other side, the Girls’ triumph was more clear cut, with them winning their first three matches.
Larissa Wiltshire topped Smith-Padmore Jodi 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Taylor Fernandes was in cruise control against Sumairaa Suleman (11-6, 11-5, 11-8), while Caribbean champion Nicolette Fernandes once again bested Meagan Best 11-8, 11-6, 11-3.
At the presentation ceremony, players and organisers thanked the all the sponsors for their support and the Guyana Squash Association for a well-run tournament.
It is understood that Bermuda (Junior Championships) and Jamaica (Senior Championships) are tentatively the next hosts.
