unior squash Champion Jason Ray Khalil and National squash coach Carl Ince (right)
National coach Carl Ince, who has coached Guyana’s world-ranked (45) female player Nicolette Fernandes, gave Guyana Times International Sport his opinion of 16-year-old squash champion Jason Ray Khalil.
“He is our most talented junior player… This is Jason’s year,” Ince said. He predicted that Khalil will finally win a Caribbean title this year. On Sunday, Jason Ray must have cemented his coach’s opinion of his game when he claimed a dominant victory over Deje Dias to win the Kool Aid Skill Level Junior tournament at the Georgetown Club. He had won the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap tournament just last month.
Khalil defeated Under-19 campaigner Deje Dias in consecutive games. The fifth-form Marian Academy student wrapped up his match against the more experienced Dias with enough time to arrive early for his semi-final game in the Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Challenge Series.
Khalil won all of his matches in consecutive games, except the match against his sister Ashley, which lasted the maximum five games. Nyron Joseph finished second to Jason Ray, barely edging out reigning junior runner-up Sportswoman-of-the-Year Ashley Khalil.
Jason Ray Khalil (right) fishes in the backcourt to return a shot from runner-up, Deje Dias
In the first game against Dias, Jason Ray Khalil jumped out to an early 6/2 lead before committing several unforced errors. After Dias gained momentum from Khalil’s faults, the game saw a series of ties. Joven Benn won category B of the tournament, while Ashley De Groot placed second and Alysa Xavier third. The offspring of former Caribbean Squash Champion Garfield Wiltshire represented the family name well, winning the C, D and E categories.
Akeila Wiltshire won the C category ahead of Ben Mekdeci and Patrick Fraser; while her sister Larissa Wiltshire won the E category ahead of Gabrielle Fraser and Taylor Fernandes.
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