Fernandes hopeful of regaining Junior CASA title
President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA), David Fernandes has expressed his optimism of Guyana recapturing this year’s Junior CASA Championships which serves off this weekend in Jamaica.
Guyana, after 12 years of dominance, from 2005 – 2016, surrendered the 2017 Title to Barbados in Guyana, and ever since the juniors have been working their traps off to once again return to the apex of squash in the region.
Fernandes, in that regard, is banking on a total team effort from the South Americans, merged with what he describes as the ‘depth in this year’s squad’ to deliver the goods.
“I think that our chances are good once the stars line up,” Fernandes remarked when asked to describe the team’s chances this year, while adding; “Our depth in the lower levels of the team will come through for us.”
“We have some very special youths right now in the lower levels of our team who can do the job for us, which takes the pressure off the senior-junior players where they can go out and know that they have depth behind them and hopefully that becomes a reality for us.”
The President, however, is wary to the looming ‘Bajan threat,’ after they carted off with the 2017 Championships and have been doing everything within their grasp to remain at the top of regional squash.
“Barbados is still a very powerful team. They have done a lot. Their kids have been going overseas for training for quite a while, and they have been reaping the benefits,” he noted, while pointing out that Guyana will rank second in this year’s tournament, behind the reigning champions.
Commenting on two of the top junior players, Shomari Wiltshire and Abosaide Cadogan, Fernandes expressed his high hopes for the duo when they compete for the Boy’s and Girl’s Under-15 titles, respectively.
“Abosaide is a very special athlete. I think that she would probably do well in any sport that she plays. She is one of those kids who is just that good. She is a tremendous athlete,” he said, as he described the young lady, with beaming anticipation of her chances this year.
On Wiltshire, he observed,” Shomari is kind of the same thing. His ability to play a mature game at age 15 is unmatched in the Caribbean because even though he is that young, he plays a very intelligent and mature game.
“He is also tactful, and that is key to being successful in this sport. So it’s difficult for anyone to defeat him in his age group,” Fernandes who will be acting as one of the team’s assistant coaches, remarked.
With the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Championship slated to kick-off its second edition of the Bartica Zone, the organisers of the National Championships, Three Peat Promotions, have released the official list of teams for this year’s event. The winner of the Bartica Championship, which is scheduled for July 13th-15th, will join the other 15 teams which have already qualified for the most prestigious title in ‘street-ball’. Last year’s Bartica representative was River View, who defeated the Police in a thrilling finale. According to an official release, “Bartica, which saw its inaugural competition played last year, will be represented by the winner of their zone scheduled to be played from July 13-15 in the Mining Community. River View is the defending champion and word from the community is suggesting that they will have to be at their best to hold off some of the aspiring teams, all of whom have exuded confidence, ahead of next weekend’s showdown.”
The media release further said, “Police, who ended runner-up in last year’s competition, will once again be aiming to go one step better and be the Region’s sole representative in the national playoffs. With the chance to compete at the Nationals, a huge opportunity for the winning team, fans can expect three days of exciting action that could challenge some of the battles we’ve seen so far at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.”
The national playoffs will be staged on July 27th and 28th at the Pouderoyen Tarmac, West Bank Demerara, and Haslington Market Square, East Coast Demerara, respectively, with the final night pencilled for the National Cultural Centre Tarmac on August 3rd.
The complete list of participants for the National Championship is:
Georgetown: Gold is MoneyDefending Champion, Sparta Boss, Leopold Street, Bent Street; East Coast Demerara: UprisingChampion, Paradise, Melanie-B, Buxton Diamond; West Demerara: ShowstoppersChampion, ESPN, West Side Ballers; Linden: Silver BulletsChampion, Dave and Celina’s AllStars-National Champion, Swag Entertainment: Berbice: Trafalgar-Champion.