Guyana’s National Junior Squash team depart for Jamaica

By Melinda Bishundyal

Guyana National Junior Squash team departs for Jamaica today to compete in the 30th Junior Caribbean Championship which runs from July 20-27.
Guyana are the defending champions; they won the male, female and overall titles last year. Guyana have won the tournament for the past seven years.
The singles will be contested from July 20-22. The team events will commence on July 23 and conclude on July 26.
The 14-member team include seven former Caribbean junior champions. The Girls team read: Mary Fung-a-Fat, Ashley DeGroot, Rebecca Lowe, Taylor Fernandes, Larissa Wiltshire, Victoria Arjoon, and Akeila Wiltshire.
The male team consist of Jason Ray Khalil, Ben Mekdeci, Patrick Fraser, Nyron Joseph, Hean Claude Jeffrey and Steven Xavier.
The Manager is Garfield Wiltshire, and the coach is Carl Ince, who is assisted by Tiffany Solomon.
According to the manager, the only concern is that some of the players who excelled last year have moved out of the junior category, and most of the current junior players have moved up in their age group category which means their competition will be stiffer.
“Most of the players will move up in age group, it will be a challenge for them but I’m sure they are up to it. The girl’s team members are stronger than the boy’s team, but the boys tend to come up with good surprises,” posited Wiltshire.
He added that the teams were well prepared and expectation are high. They have been training since April for at least three days a week.
When asked about his star players, Wiltshire said he expects Mary Fung-A-Fat and Ashley DeGroot to reach the final as both of them have improved tremendously. Fung-A-Fat and DeGroot are currently ranked number one and number two in the U-19 category.
He also has high hopes for Jason Ray Khalil and Nyron Joseph in the U-19 and U-17 categories respectively. Khalil won the U-17 last year while Joseph won the Caribbean U-15 championship last year. Wiltshire described Joseph as quick and extremely competitive and is ever improving.
Joseph told this publication that he is focused on winning, pointing out that he trained extremely hard especially on his fitness. This will be his second time competing in Jamaica; he did so in 2006 when he lost.
Meanwhile, the most improved female player, Ashley DeGroot who placed fifth last year, is confident about winning this year. She revealed that she is good form and she is excited about going to Jamaica and compete.
The team is sponsored mainly by Digicel. The company came in for high praises from President of the Guyana Squash Association, Andrew Arjoon. He thanked the sponsor for their support throughout the years.