Josie Thong, an Under-15 bronze-medal winner at last year’s Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships, just missed out on a berth in the final of the CASA Junior Tournament currently taking place at the South Sound Squash Club in the Cayman Islands.
Thong, whose Girls' U-17 division is the only category forced to play in a round-robin format, went up against Guyana's Emily Fung A Fat in the semifinal on Monday (June 30) but was swept aside 3-0.
Thong who had victories over Jamaica's Rhina Stoddart 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 and Thalia Knight of Barbados 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 the day before, faced an in-form Fung A Fat who signalled her intention of a final berth early by taking the first set 11-5.
Thong tried to level the score in the second set, but there was no letting up by the Guyanese, who doubled her advantage with an 11-7 triumph in the second set before she shut the door on Thong in a battling 13-11 victory in the final set.
Meanwhile, Thong's brother, Seth, was set to be in the final of the boys' U-19 division against Tortola's Daniel Henderson. The senior Thong, having claimed the men’s championship title of the T&T Senior National Squash Championships at the Racquet Centre of the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Port-of-Spain last year, had a 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-3) victory over Andrew Cox of the Devonish Parish in Bermuda.
Also, on Monday, Gia Ghuran followed up her strong start to the tournament in the girls' U-13 division with a convincing 3-0 triumph over Morgan Daniel 11-6, 11-8, 11-9.
Saanvi Chattergoon had a win-loss record on yesterday's second day in the U-13 category. She first clobbered Taylor Kyme 3-0 (11-8, 11-2, 11-4) but then faltered in her second match of the day, going down to Zoey McDonald in a close contest 3-2 (11-9, 11-3, 10-12, 5-11, 10-12). Aaniyah Ramdeen enjoyed a good stint on the opening day but struggled against Delilah Grace in the U-13s as she went down in straight sets 3-0 (11-0, 11-5, 11-2).
