Pan Am Squash: Nicolette Fernandes through to semi-finals

Guyana’s premier Squash player Nicolette Fernandes has rallied her way into the semi-finals of the ongoing senior Pan American Championship in Guatemala.

On Monday evening, Fernandes topped Canada’s Maria Min 11-3, 11-5, 11-8 to set up a semi-final showdown with another Canadian, Hannah Blatt, on Tuesday evening from 21:30h.

Her performance has been the highlight of an otherwise gloomy outing as regards wins for the Guyanese athletes.

On Sunday, Ashley Khalil defeated Emma Turnbull of the Cayman Islands 11-4, 11-6, 11-6, but on Monday, went down to Valentina Portieri in a battle that ended 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10 in the Argentine’s favour.

Partnering with her brother Jason-Ray in the Mixed Doubles, they went down to the hosts 11-9, 11-4, while Gabrielle Fraser and Mary Fung-A-Fat lost to to their Ecuadorian counterparts 11-5, 11-4.

In the Men’s division, Kristian Jeffrey was defeated by Junior Alejandro Enriquez of Guatemala 3-11, 2-11, 5-11, while Jason-Ray lost by an identical margin to Leandro Romiglio of Argentina.

The Argentines seem to have a grip over Guyana as Jeremias Azaña topped the youthful exuberance of Samuel Ince-Carvalhal 11-3, 11-5, 11-9 and Chile’s Sebastian Gallegos overcame Alex Arjoon 11-4, 11-5, 11-3.

However, the bigger aim for Team Guyana is qualification for this year’s Central American and Caribbean Games. The top eight Women and top ten Males will gain automatic qualification.