By Tiadi Blair
The Trinidad and Tobago Squash Association (TTSA) has announced that they will be unable to host this year’s Bmobile Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships due to the current swine flu outbreak in Trinidad and Tobago.
According to TTSA, it was advised by Minister of Health Jerry Narace that the tournament be cancelled due to recently recorded cases of the virus. There are over 16 cases of swine flu in Tobago which has residents on the alert; in fact it has caused a number of schools across the island to close. Secretary of TTSA Dominique Willems-Bones, speaking on behalf of the association, stated, “We are extremely disappointed as we have put many hours into the planning and preparation for this prestigious tournament, as well as all of you who have athletes who are training hard for it. We, therefore, hope some other country will be able to, at this last minute, host CASA so that all our athletes who have trained hard may still participate.”
The junior tournament which was slated for August 19-23 would have seen the likes of Ashley deGroot, Abhishek Singh, Oliver Downes and Alexander Arjoon competing against some of the Caribbean’s best squash players.
This has happened in the wake of the cancellation of the Caribbean Games, also scheduled to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, from July 13-19. The games were cancelled a week ago due to reported cases of swine flu on the island. Trinidad and Tobago noted its first case of the H1N1 flu on June 5 which was contracted by a woman who had travelled abroad.
Much planning had gone into the $35 million event which would have seen competition in volleyball, track and field, boxing and netball players from across the Caribbean, including a squad from Guyana. During that time the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and the Guyana Athletic Association (GAA) were all on board to have athletes represent Guyana at the inaugural games.