After copping four gold medals in the singles age-group finals, Barbados added two more to their tally, as they won both the Boys’ and Girls’ doubles finals at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championships in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday.

Aidan Parris and Under-19 silver medallist Alex Stewart outlasted the Jamaican pair of Tobias Levy and Lukas Thomson in what was a strategic and tactical Boys’ showpiece, which could have gone either way. The Jamaicans won a closely contested opening set 11-9, but the Barbadian pair maintained their composure best for the next two sets which they won 11-5, 11-5 to secure the championship.

It was a similar situation on the Girls’ side of action, where the highly-rated Sumairaa Suleman, who won the Girls’ Under-19 final, partnered with Under-17 champion Eboni Atherley to defeat Jamaica’s Katherine Risden and Savannah Thomson and claim supremacy in the female category.

In fact, it was a first ever Girls’ championship doubles win for Barbados, and they claimed it in entertaining fashion. Though Suleman and Atherley won by two sets 11-9, 11-8, it was two closely contested affairs, which the Risden and Thomson could have prolonged, but they struggled to limit unforced errors throughout and that proved their undoing.

Meanwhile, the Jamaicans, who bounced back strongly from contrasting singles performances where they won one silver and two bronze medals, also challenged for the Mixed doubles title by way of Alex Chin and Under-17 girls silver medallist Sanjana Nallapati.

However, it was Guyana’s Under-19 pair of Nicolas Verwey and Kirsten Gomes, who won gold and silver in their respective age group finals, that came out victorious in a contest where the Jamaicans were again plagued by errors.

The Guyanese pair won 11-8, 11-7 to add a fourth gold to their tally. The defending overall champions have now won four gold, three silver and three bronze heading into the team competition, scheduled to begin on Thursday.

Las year's runners-up Barbados has six gold medals and a silver on their cards heading in, while the Jamaicans tally now stands at four silver and two bronze.

A confident Tobias Levy dominated the Jamaica Squash Association's national junior trials for the U19 and U17 age groups for girls and boys at the Liguanea Club in Kingston. The trials ran from Friday March 17 to 19 with 16 players vying for spots to represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Junior Squash Championship in July.

Competing in the U19 category, Levy, who also benefitted from a walkover, won three of his other four matches in straight sets but was taken the distance by Arjan Trehan, who eventually lost 5-2. At the end of it all, Levy won 15 of 17 games for a winning percentage of 88 per cent.

Alex Chin, meanwhile, was second with a 12-8 win-loss margin while Rhys Greenland was third with 11-9 margin.

Levy credits his dominance on the court to his work ethic.

"I have been playing squash since I was young. I have been dominant from I came on the scene,” he said. “I would say my racquet skills and how smart I am on court definitely puts me above everyone else. I think I understand the game very well. I have been training hard. It's not just talent, I have been training hard from when I was young so it helps me stay dominant,” said Levy, who said winning the U19 category was crucial.

"It means a lot, especially because I get to go represent my country as the best player in the junior age. It also feels good because I have a lot of competitors that are out for me and train hard to beat me but I keep training hard and play well so I stay dominant."

Thomas Overton won his three matches to top the Boys U17 ahead of the very competitive Lucas Thompson.

Savannah Thompson emerged top of the Girls U19 matches after beating Eleanor Hind in straight sets 3-0 before beating Katherine Risden 3-2.

Risden finished second overall.

Sanjana Nallapati did not drop a game to come out the victor in the Girls U17, despite being pushed by Mehar Trehan, who won half her six matches.

Nallapati said that it was tough to play her.

"Mehar and I go far back. It's always a tough battle because we are family and going against family is very tough because you don't want to whip them,” she said.

“With the two of us it’s always a five setter. It’s been that way for a really long time and its never really known who is going to win. This time Mehar played phenomenally. I thought I played well as well. We definitely played at a high intensity like we usually do.

"For the Caribbean Championship I hope to do extremely well."

 

 

 

Vice President of the Jamaica Squash Association expressed optimism about Jamaica’s chances of doing well at the Caribbean Championships.

"We have some strong players here in these categories, experienced players who have been to the Caribbean tournament before,” said Levy, who is also chairman of the selection committee.

“I think we have a good opportunity to win a couple of categories and hopefully also the team event. Hopefully we can bring home the Caribbean trophy this year for the team event and one or two of the individual events as well. It would be great."

The trials for the U15, U13 and possibly U11 players, will be held in June.

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