Girls Squash team likely to attend World C’ship in Egypt

By Kiev Chesney

Guyana’s top junior female Squash players may get an opportunity to compete against the best in the world in the sport at the 2011 Women’s World Junior Individual and Team Championships in Cairo, Egypt July 20 – 30, according to Guyana Squash Association (GSA) president Andrew Arjoon.

Speaking with this publication yesterday, Arjoon said that he was about to commence discussions to this end last evening with the other executive members of the association. Arjoon, who was elected president of GSA during the first half of the year, felt strongly that the current junior girls’ team definitely deserves the opportunity to compete at the world renowned squash event.

“If there was ever a team that deserved to go to this event, it is this current girls’ team,” Arjoon said.

The team he refers to includes 2007 Sportswoman of the Year, Ashley Khalil, who is also a two-time Caribbean Junior Squash champion; Mary Fung-A-Fat, Victoria Arjoon and the talented Squash twins, Keisha and Kayla Jeffrey. Arjoon’s daughter, Victoria, is the youngest member of the team under consideration, but she has dominated Caribbean squash at her age group, winning four consecutive titles at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) junior championships. She is barely 14 years old.   

Fung-A-Fat, 16, also has three titles, while Keisha Jeffrey has captured four titles and placed second at the CASA twice. Kayla was the runner-up to her sister last year, but has consistently finished third in the competition behind either Khalil or her twin sister.

Khalil, the Jeffrey twins, and Fung-A-Fat competed at the Junior Pan American Squash Championships in 2008 and copped the girls’ team bronze medal. The Jeffrey twins and Khalil competed at that Under-19 tournament again this year in Ecuador, and once again secured the third place prize.

However, competing at this world class tournament will be no small task for the GSA financially. According to Arjoon, it could cost their association in excess of Gy$5 million. Nevertheless, Arjoon said, the commitment of the girls’ team is exemplary, and he is confident that their parents will also chip in to help the association offset the cost.

The association also recently signed a three-year sponsorship deal with telecommunication giant Digicel, and the company will be the official sponsor for the 2011 CASA Caribbean Junior Championships, which will be held in Guyana. 

“It would be an amazing experience to be on the world stage competing among the best in the world,” Arjoon added.

“I don’t know if they are at the level of those players at the world championships, but they are the best in the Caribbean, and they certainly deserve a shot,” Arjoon said. The GSA boss said that if his association decides to send the team, he feels that alone would motivate the girls to elevate their games in the next eight months to compete in the tournament.