Eight-year-old Shomari Wiltshire, who remained undefeated after four days of competition, is poised to capture his first ever national title today during the Woodpecker National Junior Squash Championships at the Georgetown Club, a release from the Guyana Squash Association stated.
According to the release, today’s matches commence at 11:30hrs, but since the tournament was played using the round robin format, Shomari’s undefeated streak makes him one of the frontrunners for the under 13 title.
The son of three-time Southern Caribbean champion Garfield Wiltshire has so far dominated his opponents to the extent that the aggregate of points scored against him is less than one game’s score (11 points).
Shomari, who was adjudged most improved player in the Kool Aid Junior Easter Tournament, defeated John Phang (11/1, 11/1, 11/0), Zachary Persaud (11/1, 11/1, 11/1) and Lucas Jonas (11/0, 11/1, 11/0) respectively on Friday and Saturday morning. Shomari won all three of those contests in straight games (3-0) and conceded just six points against those three opponents. Even Phang who had dominated category F during the Kool Aid Junior Easter Tournament, was brushed aside by Shomari. His first match of the tournament had set the tone for what to expect after he held newcomer Dominic Collins scoreless, and nearly duplicated that result against Anthony Islam, who only won two points against him on Thursday. Close to press time last night, Shomari dispatched Daniel Islam and Gianni Carpenter and in his final match today, he is expected to compete against Travis Whitehead.
Steven Xavier defied the odds and stole a game for reigning Caribbean under 17 champion Jason-Ray Khalil in their encounter on Friday night.
Despite losing 12/14, Khalil settled and got down to business to overpower Xavier in the next three games 11/5, 11/5, 11/0. Khalil also crushed Avinash Odit yesterday in three games and is expected to play Nyron Joseph in the final match of the tournament today. Up to press time last night Joseph was undefeated but was scheduled to take on Xavier. Joseph had also defeated Benjamin Mekdeci 12/10, 11/7, 11/9 in their under 17 encounter, but Mekdeci remained undefeated in the under 15 category. Joseph and Khalil were to clash in the final of the previous tournament but an injury to Joseph’s arm prevented it from materializing.
Akeila Wiltshire is also on pace to winning the girls’ under 17 title after surviving a testing battle with Taylor Fernandes. Fernandes is also one of the frontrunners to win the under 15 category but will have to contend with Larissa Wiltshire. Rebecca Low defeated Sarah Collins with a consistent and effective serve which also helped her to defeat Savannah Mendes. In her encounter against Mendes yesterday morning, Low overcame an injury in the first game (which Savannah won), but fiercely returned to win the next three.
The tournament has been organized by the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) in collaboration with their number one corporate sponsor Digicel Guyana and will be used to help select players to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Squash Championships in Jamaica in July.
