Ashley with the trophies she won at the Caribbean Squash Championships and with her brother at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. She won her first singles title at the Caribbean Championships.
Ashley Khalil
After years of coming up short, an insatiable hunger drove Ashley Khalil to her first ever Caribbean Senior Squash Singles title in Jamaica last week.
The 29-year-old Khalil, who spreads her time between running two businesses and her squash career, came from a set down to defeat compatriot Taylor Fernandez 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-4 to win her first singles title.
She would later team up with Ashley DeGroot to win the Women’s Doubles as Guyana walked away with the Women’s team title and gave Ashley a hold on three trophies for the championships that concluded at the Liguanea Club in Kingston last Saturday, August 27.
She explained that after at least four previous failed attempts, her incredible desire to win helped her push to the title.
“I think what made this year different was the fact that squash had been off for such a long time due to Covid. Also, I was unable to play Caribbean Championships in 2019 due to injury and after therapy and recovery and Covid, I came back stronger and hungry for the title,” she said while revealing an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
“I am over-joyed to have this title under my belt, especially with this being my first time to even make it into the finals of this competition,” she said.
Khalil headed into the championships more prepared than she had been in previous years. With Covid restrictions being relaxed across the globe, she had the opportunity to shake off the rust and get back to playing close to her best squash.
“I started back training at the beginning of this year after being off due to Covid. In April, I participated and won a bronze medal in the Women’s team event of the Pan Am Championships in Guatemala,” said.
“A few months later I got some experience at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where I secured a silver medal in the Mixed Doubles Consolation with my younger brother.
“With such high levels of squash and gaining experience and knowledge throughout each competition I was able to come out to the Caribbean Championships with a focused mindset.”
Still, having never won before her expectations were tempered by reality.
“Going into this tournament I was expecting to do well, especially having a few bronze medals from previous Caribbean Championships, but I don’t think it actually sunk in that I could possibly win it even though I was going in as the number-one seed,” she explained while revealing that among the toughest opponents she faced during the tournament was her own countrywomen.
“It is always difficult playing your country mates,” she said.
“We play so often at home that we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so every match against a teammate is a tough one. I had to ensure I came out strong from the first point.”
She won her second title with DeGroot and said that the two share good chemistry.
“This is actually our second tournament playing doubles together. We previously won bronze at the CAC Games in 2014,” she said.
“Ashley and I have pretty good chemistry. We are very close friends off the court and that makes it a bit easier on court. We also know when to leave the shot for the other or to assist if need be.”
Ashley Khalil might have just won her first Caribbean singles title but she has had tremendous success at national and regional levels.
In her two decades playing the sport, after making her junior debut at 11, Khalil won her first Junior Caribbean title at age 14. She won a second Junior title at the U19 level when she was just 17.
She was a U15, U17 and U19 national champion in both squash and badminton and was Junior Sportswoman of the Year in 2007.
She also won silver and bronze medals at the Junior Pan Am Championships as well as bronze medals at the CAC Championships and South American Games.
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
Caribbean swimmers Grand'Pierre, Noel and Wuilliez fail to progress despite credible performances
There were no second round fortunes for Haiti’s Alexandre Grand'pierre, Antigua and Barbuda’s Jadon Wuilliez, or Guyana’s Raekwon Noel in the pool as both failed to progress from their respective heats on the opening day of the Paris Olympic Games at the Paris La Defence Arena on Saturday.
Wuilliez and Grand'pierre, finished second and fourth in their 100m breaststroke heats after clocking 1:02.70 and 1:02.85, respectively, but did not make the semi-finals as those times placed them 26th and 28th overall.
Noel also had a credible second-place finish in his 400m freestyle heat, but his time of 4:02.29 wasn't enough to progress. He finished 34th overall.
Wuilliez, 22, has had a wonderful track record thus far, earning a gold medal in the 50m breaststroke and a bronze in the 100m event at the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships (CCCAN) held in Mexico in June earlier this year.
Grand'Pierre, 21, is Haiti’s current record holder for the 50m and 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley (IM). He also won multiple New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championships and is an NCAA Division III All-American. Earlier in June, he won the 100m breaststroke at the CCCAN in 1:02.39.
Meanwhile, this was Noel’s Olympic Games debut. The 18-year-old has established himself as one to look out for in the future, as he shattered five team records for the South Jersey Aquatic Club at the Middle Atlantic Senior Championships. He finished his short course season, winning five races and setting nine personal best times in addition to his records.
Noel won the competition and broke team records in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 200 fly. He boasts a track record in swimming, with five gold medals at the 2023 Carifta Swimming Championships. Breaking five nation records.
Anti-doping hearing for Jamaican squash champion Julian Morrison set for September 3-4
The dates for the substantive anti-doping hearing for Jamaica’s national squash champion Julian Morrison have been set with his fate to be decided by an Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel on September 3-4.
The dates for the substantive hearing were set during an initial hearing featuring the representatives of both Morrison and the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) on Thursday afternoon.
Morrison is challenging the provisional suspension imposed by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) after testing positive for trace amounts of Boldenone, a banned anabolic agent.
The suspension came following an out-of-competition test conducted on January 18th, 2024, where Morrison's results showed the presence of Boldenone in his system.
However, Morrison and his representatives strongly assert that the substance entered his body inadvertently, likely through contamination.
Guyana's table tennis star Chelsea Edghill feeling good after 'solid practice sessions' in Paris
By all indications, Guyana’s top table tennis player, Chelsea Edghill is relaxed and ready to go at the Olympic Games as she continues to get acclimatised to conditions in Paris.
Edghill, who is relishing her second Olympic Games appearance, is the only English-speaking Caribbean representative set to compete in table tennis at the global multi-sport showpiece, which got underway with football action on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old, who was eliminated in the first round at the 2020 Tokyo Games, pointed out that she has so far engaged in some solid practice sessions since her arrival in Mulhouse, France, as she hopes to go at least one better on this occasion.
“It was just Guyana in the camp, so we took the time to train with some of the local players and practice with the world master’s bronze medalist and the practice session was good,” Edghill told Chronicle Sport.
“We go back to Paris to settle in for the games but so far we have to train and getting used to the environment. It (table tennis) takes so much skill and practice, I have been doing it for 18 years and it is still very difficult…misconception is that it is easy,” she added.
While her preparation aimed at fine-tuning her skills and focus leading up to the multi-sport event, Edghill has always been self-motivated.
“I am really working on grounding myself and looking inward. If the plan doesn’t work, we just scrap the plan and then start over,” Edghill said in an Instagram post, as she hopes to break barriers and possibly create opportunities for other Guyanese players.
She is joined in Paris by National Coach Idi Lewis, the country’s top swimmer, Aleka Persaud and coach Sean Baksh, as well as track and field star Emanuel Archibald.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
