The T&T boys’ team just missed out on the top spot after going under to Guyana 16-17 in the Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships Boys Team final at the South Sound Squash Club in the Cayman Islands on Sunday (July 8).
For T&T, Ross D’Juran won his under-15 encounter against Justin Ten Pow, 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 12-10, while Seth Thong triumphed in the first Under-19 duel with Louis Da Silva 13-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-5, and Anthony Allum, the other over Shiloh Asregado. 11-5, 11-8, 11-4.
However, Guyana also won three of the matches, with Zion Hickerson beating T&T 11-6, 11-1, 11-3. Ethan Bulkan humbled Coen Mack 11-6, 11-1, 11-1; and Black Edwards won over Matteo Felician 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8 to avenge their Group A round-robin loss, 13-20 to T&T.
Earlier in the semifinals, T&T and St Vincent and The Grenadines battled to a 16-16 deadlock, with D’Juran outlasting Aiden De Freitas 11-7, 8-11, 11-2, 11-4; Thong crushing Deron Lewis 11-1, 11-1, 11-1; and Allum winning by default, while the trio of Ghuran, Vithala Chattergoon and Felicia suffered defeats.
Ghuran was steamrolled by Zavin Garrick. 11-1, 2-11, 3-11; Chattergoon was defeated by Savante Padmore 5-11, 11-8, 2-11, 3-11, and Felician was silenced by Jayden George 0-11, 4-11, 2-11.
Guyana defeated Barbados 22-12 in the other semifinals, led by wins from Hickerson, Bulkan, Edwards and Da Silva.
Hickerson won against Barbadian Thierry Padmore 11-1, 11-3, 11-4; Bulkan bettered Finn Graham 11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3; Edwards trounced Daniel Sealy 11-0, 11-0, 11-0; and Da Silva rallied past Dominic Wilson 3-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5.
The Barbadians got their wins from Ben Shepherd 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 over Ten Pow and Luke Wilson, 8-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 against Asregado.
And in the bronze medal match, Barbados got the better of St Vincent and The Grenadines 201-0 with victories from Graham, Shepherd, Wilson (Dominic), and Wilson (Luke).
In the round-robin stage, T&T also had victories over Bermuda (22-12) and Jamaica (26-5) to end with a 3-0 record and 67 points, having won 41 games to 20 losses, while Guyana, which beat Bermuda (21-12) in their final match, was second with a 2-1 record and 59 points, along with a 37-23 games win-loss ratio.
Bermuda was third with a 1-2 record and 45 points, while Jamaica ended winless.
In the semifinals, T&T will face Group B runner-up St Vincent and the Grenadines, who were beaten 20-10 in their table decider by Barbados.
Both Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines ended with the same 2-1 win-loss records; however, the Barbadians (53 points) won 33 games to 25 losses as compared to a 30-25 ratio of the runner-up, who ended with 50 points.
In the girls’ team competition, T&T women secured the bronze medal with a 3-2 win-loss record in the six-team round-robin series after battling to a 17-17 deadlock with Bermuda.
For T&T, Josie Thong outlasted Somers Stevenson 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-7 in the Under-17s; Gia Ghuran swept Taylor Kyme 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 in the Under-13s, and Lara Allum won by default in the Under-11s.
But Bermuda got wins from Gabrielle Turchiaro, who defeated Elise Mathura. 11-4, 11-3, 11-2; Tyler Komposch edged past Saanvi Chattergoon 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, and McKenna Kyme battled past Aaniyah Ramdeen 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-3, 11-4.
Prior to their final round-robin match, T&T registered wins over Jamaica, 20-10, and 20-11 against the Cayman Islands in their first two encounters before falling to Guyana 2-30 and Barbados 11-22. Guyana ended as winners of the girls’ event as well with a 5-0 record after beating Barbados in a clash of unbeaten teams on Saturday’s final day of competition.
In the first phase of the competitions, Seth Thong and Allum won T&T’s first gold medal when they won the boys’ doubles against the British Virgin Islands’ Henderson brothers, Daniel and Oliver, 11-6, 11-10, in 27 minutes.
Thong and Allum overcame St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Aiden De Freitas and Jayden George 10-11, 11-7, 11-7 in the quarterfinals before beating Asregado and Ten Pow, the second-ranked duo, 11-7, 11-9 in their semifinal.
In the girls doubles, T&T’s Ghuran and Ramdeen were upended at the opening quarterfinal stage, 2-11, 0-11 in ten minutes, by Guyana’s Emily Funhg A Fat and Kaylee Lowe, and in the mixed doubles, D’Juran and Josie Thong were ousted by Jamaicans ’Ethan Miller and Elie Wilson. 8-11, 9-11 in 15 minutes.
In the individual competition, Thong (S) and Ghuran secured silver medals, while T&T also earned two bronze medals via Ramdeen and Josie Thong.
