Sibling success: Ashley Khalil and her brother Jason-Ray, who won the Women's and Men's Singles titles, respectively, at the 2022 Guyana National Championships held at the Georgetown Club.
Ashley Khalil has described 2022 as one of her best years ever after cruising to the Women’s Singles title at the Guyana National Squash Championship that concluded on Friday night (December 2) at the Georgetown Club.
Going in as the top women’s seed, Khalil, the 2022 Caribbean Women’s Singles champion, did not lose a game all tournament. Benefitting from a walkover in the opening round against Tian Edwards, Khalil steamrolled Larissa Wiltshire 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 to move onto the final where she overwhelmed number-two seed Taylor Fernandez 11-4, 11-8, 11-8 in just 20 minutes.
It was another jewel crowning her achievements in what has been a fantastic year for the 29-year-old athlete and businesswoman, who credits improved fitness to the run of success she has enjoyed this year.
“The key factors that determined my performance and eventually winning would firstly have to be the improvement in my fitness both on and off the court,” said Khalil, who won a bronze medal in the Women’s Team Event at the Pan Am Games in April and a silver medal in Mixed Doubles competition with her brother at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England this past summer.
“Secondly, the number of elite tournaments that I was also able to attend throughout the year and gaining experience and knowledge from each. Finally, the sponsorship and support from my family, my country and my well-wishers.”
These accomplishments, she said, has made the year one of her best ever.
“Having won the Caribbean title and now the national title have definitely been one of my personal bests in a year,” she said.
It was also a good tournament for her sibling, Jason-Ray Khalil, who overcame a stern test from Alex Arjoon 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 to claim the Men’s Singles title.
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.
Anderson targets technical director, schools' programme after being returned to helm of Squash association
After being re-elected president of Jamaica Squash Association, Karen Anderson is intent on building on the platform laid from her previous term to ensure the continued growth and development of the sport locally.
Anderson, who took the reins of the sporting body last year, was returned for second one-year term which she said represents an opportunity to achieve certain personal ambitions and, by extension, bring visions for the sports progression, to fruition.
To that end, she hopes to finish the governance process of a name change, among other things by mid-2024, as well as to possibly hire a Technical director to assist in the country’s competitiveness at various tournaments.
“As you know, a few years ago all sporting bodies were encouraged to become charitable entities, which is an arduous process and it's also quite expensive, so we had put off for quite a while. But part of my mandate and my manifesto was to do that aspect of it, to become a charitable entity,” Anderson told Sportsmax.tv.
“So, the first resolution spoke to the association becoming a charitable entity; the second one spoke to a name change from Jamaica Squash Association to Jamaica Squash Limited trading as Jamaica Squash and then the third one was to the approval of current constitution of Jamaica's Association subsumed by Articles of Incorporation, which is what governs charitable bodies. So, all of the resolutions were passed and passed unanimously,” she added.
While Anderson reveled in the success of the country’s junior and senior teams at their respective Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) tournament recently, she noted areas in which the country can improve to become more formidable on the regional stage and the appointment of a technical director, she believes is a key component.
“Based on some of the things we saw last year, we added a strength and conditioning coach as a fitness element. All of the juniors and seniors worked with this strength and conditioning coach to get them up to standard and we saw a marked improvement in that and that's something that we're actually going to continue to do,” Anderson shared.
“We have also seen the success of other Caribbean countries that have technical directors and that’s a significant way to increase our competitiveness within the region. We haven't identified the person yet because we need to identify the money first, but we believe that we can turn some of our silver and bronze medals into gold and maybe start to contend and be part of the top two in the region.
“As I've said to the players, if we can't compete and be competitive in this region which is the Caribbean region, then there's no point even trying to take it outside of the Caribbean. Because you need to be able to do it at home first and home for me is the Caribbean. So, that's really where we're looking. It's expensive, but we believe that is direction that we have to go in,” she reasoned.
That said, Anderson, a former National and Caribbean singles champion, pointed out that starting a school programme is also high on her agenda to not only widen the sport’s reach but also the pool from which players are selected for national duties.
“Currently, if you can hit the ball you almost can he selected. We want the kids to fight for a spot so that they become more competitive and learn how to win. So those are the areas that we're going to focus on to improve on some of those results. I would also love to be able to host a Professional Squash tournament attracting the world’s best players to play in Jamaica,” she declared.
Anderson’s executive committee includes Joey Levy, vice president, Gill Binnie, secretary and Deanne Pryce, treasurer. Committee
members are Douglas Beckford, Nathlee Boreland, and Tahjia Lumley.
Transformative decisions and elections set for today's Jamaica Squash Association's AGM
The Jamaica Squash Association's annual general meeting (AGM) is set to take place on Thursday at 6:00 pm at its home base at the Liguanea Club in Kingston.
The primary decision on the agenda is the resolution to change the name to Jamaica Squash Limited, a charitable entity trading as Jamaica Squash. Amendments to the constitution are also expected to be discussed and approved.
The AGM will also see the the election of officers. The current executive committee members are Karen Anderson - president, Joey Levy - vice president, Gill Binnie - secretary, Deanne Pryce - treasurer, and committee members Douglas Beckford, Nathlee Boreland, Tahjia Lumley, Julian Morrison, Bruce Burrowes, and Stephen Dear.
Morrison, Burrowes, and Dear indicated that they would not be returning to the committee after the AGM.
Guyana outclass competition at CASA Senior Champs
The unwavering commitment to task, team spirit and the desire to stand out, were the unifying threads linking Guyana's tale of overachievement at the just-concluded Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Senior Championship at the North Sound Courts in the Cayman Islands.
Simply put, the Guyanese left nothing to chance and now they are reveling in the fact that they not only retained the overall championship but had a host of other accolades that sweetened the deal in what was a clear demonstration of the gulf in class –certainly on this occasion –between them and their regional counterparts.
Along with the overall title, Guyana also clinched the men’s and women’s team events, as well as the men’s and women’s vets’ titles. They also finished tops in the women’s doubles thanks to Ashely Khalil and Ashley de Groot, and in the men’s and women’s over 40 contest courtesy of Jeranzo Bell and Nicolette Fernandes respectively.
"After a week of intense competition, we are incredibly proud that the blood, sweat and tears that went into putting Guyana back on that top podium once more, proved worthwhile," Guyana squash said in a social media post.
"Our successes become more meaningful when we have a massive community backing us every step of the way. Thanks to our coach Ramon [Chan-A-Sue] and the family and friends of Guyana squash for your endless support. Also, our sponsors without whom, none of this would be possible. Your contributions towards our team success would never go unrecognized," the post added.
In key team final matches, Guyana defeated hosts Cayman Islands 3-2 on their way to the men’s title, while their female counterparts, had a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Barbados for the women’s honours.
The Guyanese had earlier captured the women’s doubles gold through Khalil and de Groot, who bettered the host pair of Jade Pitcarin and Marlene West, but Fernandes and Khalil had to settle for silver and bronze in the women’s singles behind Barbadian Margot Prow.
Another Barbadian Khamal Cumberbatch topped the men's singles event, ahead of homeboy Cameron Stafford with another home player Julian Jervis, edging Guyana's Alex Arjoon for bronze.
Stafford and Jervis later teamed up to stop Cumberbatch and Shaw Simpson, in the men’s doubles final. Jamaica's Bruce Burrowes and Julian Morris took bronze.
Jamaica's duo of Tahjia Lumley and Jessica Davies, topped the mixed doubles contest, leaving Guyana's Jason-Ray Khalil and Fernandes to settle for silver. The Bajan pair of Darien Benn and Jada Smith-Padmore claimed bronze.
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