By Calvin Roberts
Raphael de Groot was pushed to the limit but Kristian Jeffrey, Alex Arjoon and Ashley Khalil scored easy wins as action in the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) Woodpecker Products Limited-sponsored National Junior Championships got underway at the Georgetown Club courts Tuesday night.
Also in winners’ row in the competition which is being used to select Guyana’s 14-member squad to participate in the Junior Caribbean Championships to be held in Bermuda in July, were 11-year-old Jean-Claude Jeffrey, Abishek Singh, Jason Ray Khalil, Kayla Jeffrey and Victoria Arjoon.
De Groot was made to work overtime during his match with Jason Ray Khalil which had rallies going as long as three minutes at times especially in the first game.
He eventually came out on top with a four-set victory.
Although Khalil lost the first game of the match 2-9, the score does not fully reflect his never-say-die attitude.
Khalil displayed the same effort in the second game with soft touches that left de Groot breathless at times even though he lost 5-9.
Khalil won the third game after staging a recovery from 3-6 to win 9-7.
However, De Groot began playing his shots more to the sides which forced Khalil to do lots of footwork to cover the area especially after playing long shots.
Khalil would only have himself to blame as he led De Groot 7-2 only to see his opponent level the scores and eventually move ahead 8-7 with game ball in hand.
He drew level to carry the game to two extra points but after another set of long rallies, the wind was apparently knocked out of his sails and he subsequently called it a day to some applause from his fellow competitors who had gathered around.
Khalil lost the fourth game 8-10 and the match 1-3.
Kristian Jeffrey, participating in his last Junior tournament, sent a firm warning that he was not going out easily when he disposed of Javed Rahaman in straight sets 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 in the boys’ 17 and 19 years combined category.
National Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year Ashley Khalil also had a straight set victory over Mary Fung-a-Fat winning 9-0, 9-3, 9-4 with the latter winning her first point after Khalil had won 11 straight points.
Eleven-year-old Jean Claude Jeffrey showed lots of improvement in his 9-3, 9-6, 9-7 victory over Steven Xavier in the boys’ Under-15 category.
