Both Guyana’s senior male and female squash teams have qualified for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games after an impressive showing at the Pan American Championship in Guatemala.
The championship concluded on Saturday. The CAC Games are scheduled for June 23 to July 8 in El Salvador.
The women’s team, seeded second, commenced with a 2-0 result against Argentina, but went down 1-2 to Canada in the semi-final to cop the bronze medal, which adds to Nicolette Fernandes individual gold medal.
The other members of the women’s team were Ashely Khalil, Mary Fung-A-Fat, and Gabrielle Fraser.
Meanwhile, the men’s team- Alex Arjoon, Kristian Jeffrey, Jason-Ray Khalil, and Samuel Ince-Carvalhal- started their campaign with a 3-0 triumph over the British Virgin Islands, but lost their next match 0-2 to the second-seed United States of America.
Canada then defeated them 0-3 and Chile by the identical scoreline to finish eighth. The placing was good enough as the top 10 male teams would have secured CAC qualification berths.
Additionally, there were four teams- Argentina, USA, Canada and Chile- who do not compete at CAC, that finished ahead of the Guyanese men.
Ramon Chan-A-Sue, coach for Guyana at the Championship, told News Room Sport on Sunday, that he is pleased with the team’s output.
“They exceeded expectations beyond our imagination and hopefully laid the groundwork for even better ahead,” the coach expressed.
He added, “Nic’s [Nicolette Fernandes] gold, exceptionally happy to be part of a first for Guyana in this event and for an athlete that I have known since she began playing, knowing the hard work and commitment that has been put in.”
