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• Ja's four-member male team brace for tough PanAm Squash qualifiers

  Expectations are high that Jamaica’s four-member male squash team will secure qualification to the Pan American (PanAm) Games in Chile later this year, when they engage the PanAm Qualifiers in Cartagena, Colombia.

  The team of reigning national champion Julian Morrison, Tahjia Lumley, Bruce Burrowes and Dane Schwier, is set to depart the island on Friday, for what is expected to be a highly competitive qualification tournament.

  However, Morrison said the small team was ready to put their best foot forward.

  “You can expect that we will be giving a hundred percent. We have put in a lot of work for the last two months to really prep ourselves for this.

  “Initially we thought it would be an elevated court but finding out that it is very flat, so we are not necessarily at a disadvantage due to the altitude. It is hot over there, but we are coming from Jamaica, especially in this summer, we will be able to weather that storm,” Morrison said.

  Burrowes concurred.

  “We are going up against very, very big countries like America, Peru, these really big juggernauts of the western hemisphere. But we really think that we can take them on because ‘we little but we tallawah," Burrowes declared. 

  First-timer Lumley also believes the team is mentally and physically prepared to give a good account of themselves.

  “We have been doing a lot of doubles training together. We have also started training as a team on the physical side in the gym with our trainer, so we have been doing a lot of team bonding which is really good for us, something new but it’s also something that we hope to continue in the future,” said Lumley.

  “A lot of work has been done on the mental side as well. Hopefully we can all put it together on each day that we go out there with our flag on our back and make sure that we make Jamaica proud,” he added. 

  Meanwhile, Karen Anderson, president of the Jamaica Squash Association, is hopeful that the team will do well.

  "It is going to be a very tough competition. Its fourteen teams vying for six spots and the main competitors, or the strongest contenders are from Mexico, USA, Canada, Colombia and Argentina,” Anderson said.

  “Colombia, however, has already qualified along with Chile. But it is going to be extremely hard, but we feel that we have a chance, and the reality is, if you don't go, you don't get a chance to actually compete to qualify, so we made the decision to send our team and we are looking forward to seeing how they manage,” she noted.

  Coach Rene Denis will meet up with the team in Colombia. 

• AGI emerge champions of KPMG Squash League

  AGI (Advantage General Insurance) defeated Almost Capable 2-1 in the final of the KPMG Squash League recently at the Liguanea Club in Kingston to be crowned league champion.

  AGI’s Julian Morrison defeated Almost Capable's top player Adam Lee 3-1 (10-21, 21-18, 21-20, 21-20) to give his team an early lead. Tahjia Lumley secured the title when he beat Alan Roper 3-0 (21-18, 21-15, 21-18) in their best of five match-up.

  With the title already lost, Daniel Chung clawed back some pride when he beat Stephan Morrison 2 -1 (21-18, 15-21, 21-18).

  "Firstly the entire KPMG League was a successful league. I think it was a very good opportunity for everybody who’s playing to be able test their skills at deficit - playing better players,” said Morrison the AGI captain afterwards.

  "I love it. I think it was great. I think that everybody played well throughout the entire thing because everybody has gotten through with three-game win.”

   Cereal Killers, who lost to AGI in the semi-final, was third while Big Shot was the plate winner that was decided between the top two losing teams. AGI's Dave Morrison was named the Most Valuable Player.

  President of the Jamaica Squash Association, Karen Anderson was pleased with how the tournament played out.

   "It was fantastic. It brings out everything, the competitiveness, the sportsmanship, the cheering for the underdog, the underdog trying to bring down the big gun,” she said.

  “The uniqueness of the event (the handicap system of play) is what makes it and what captures people's enjoyment with it and so we are very excited about the tournament."

  Anderson said that the league was very important for the game locally, especially for the juniors who get to play against various types of players at different skill levels as they prepare for the upcoming Caribbean Championships.

  According to Rajan Trehan, country managing partner of title sponsor KPMG, "We are thrilled with how the tournament went. I think the format of the game is so interesting. This along with the junior trials and the senior trials within the time period of this tournament, has really given the juniors a lot of practice and given them a basis to step up their game. I think the timing is just perfect for this tournament."

   

• Tahjia Lumley, Alyssa Mullings, the surprise winners at Jamaica senior squash trials

  Tahjia Lumley and Alyssa Mullings were the surprise winners at the Jamaica Squash Association’s four-day national senior trials that concluded at the Liguanea Club in Kingston on Sunday.

  Lumley won in a walk over after the number-one seed Chris Binnie, who had defeated him in the preliminary round, had to leave the island due to work commitments. Mullings, meanwhile, beat the number-three seed Savannah Thompson 3-1 to finish atop the women’s section.

  Lumley, who defeated national champion Julian Morrison to reach Sunday’s final, was grateful just to get to the final.

   "It was very hard. It was difficult. I thought I was probably in one of the hardest groups playing against Chris (Binnie) and Bruce (Burrowes) in the group stages,” he said.

  “I lost out to Chris and I knew that the match against Bruce was very important for me to come out on top in order for me to make it into the top four. So I was a little bit edgy and a little bit nervous in that match but I was glad I was able to come out 3-1 the victor.

  “My body aches, my body hurts but I think my hard work paid off."

  At the end of the trials, the top four men were Lumley, Binnie, Morrison and Dane Schwier.

  The unseeded Mullings had a similar journey, defeating the number-one seed Mia Todd to get to the semi-final and then beat the number three seed Savannah Thompson 3-1 to emerge victorious.

  "It was a really tough match. I actually knew of Savannah before coming here and all the other girls. They played really well and I am really proud of what women's squash is becoming. So it’s really great to come back out here and play and get a win," she said.

  "I came in unseeded because I really hadn't been playing for a very long time. The last competitive tournament was maybe seven years ago so I really had to fight and get ready for this so it felt good coming back and doing so well."

  Mullings said Thompson "played extremely well and she is quite fit. It was hard. It showed, her fitness is a bit above mine. I really have to work on that. I am really at a loss for words. I am really proud of what I was able to come out and do."

  The top four ladies were Mullings, Thompson, Todd and Melissa Lue Yen.

  Chairman of the Selection Committee Joey Levy was impressed with the level of play during the trials and believes Jamaica’s squash is in a good place.

  "We had good groups of seven men and eight women and we saw some really tough squash over a compressed time. Overall, it was just four days in all so most people were playing two games a day (and) it wears on you but really, really competitive stuff, (and) a couple of surprises. We are very happy, the association, we are very with what we have seen," he said.

  "Alyssa won the All Jamaica Championships, the Senior All Jamaica Championships at 14 about ten years ago. She stopped playing squash. She hasn't played for a while and has now come back. This is her first tournament since coming back so she came in unseeded. She was very impressive."

   

   

   

  Jamaica's teams to the Pan Am Games in June and the Senior Caribbean Squash Championship in August will be announced in the near future.