Senior CASA: Guyana’s Ashley Khalil storms to women’s title

Ranked as the number-one seed, Guyana’s Ashley Khalil lived up to the expectations and won the gold medal after defeating teammate Taylor Fernandes in the women’s final at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Senior Championships in Kington, Jamaica, on Tuesday evening.

Khalil came from behind to win her first Senior CASA title 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-4.

“To say I am happy is an understatement”, the 29-year-old stated after the remarkable triumph.

In the third-place playoff, another two Guyanese clashed and it was Ashley DeGroot who held off Akeila Wiltshire in a five-set thriller, 12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-3, that copped bronze.

Additionally, Nyron Joseph and Jason-Ray Khalil won gold by defeating Barbadians Khamal Cumberbatch and Shawn Simpson 11-10, 11-10, while Ashely  Khalil and DeGroot topped Caymanians Jade Pitcairn and Michaela Rensburg 11-6, 11-8, for the second doubles gold for Guyana.

However, in the mixed doubles, Daniel Ince and Fernandes went down to Cayman’s top mixed doubles duo of Marlene West and Cameron Stafford 3-11, 7-11.

More so, Alex Arjoon lost his singles semi-final to eventual 10-time champion Chris Binnie 2-11, 8-11, 4-11

Guyana has won three medals – gold, silver and bronze – in the singles and three more- two gold and one silver – in the doubles.

The team segment, in which Guyana is the defending champions, starts today (August 24).

In 2019, when the tournament was last held, Guyanese accumulated 52 points to edge the Bajans by five points, while the 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.