By Yonalla Dalrymple
Following the successful staging of the national junior squash championships which ended yesterday at the Georgetown Club, manager of the Guyana team to this year’s Caribbean championships Garfield Wiltshire, is already looking ahead to the championships which will be held in Jamaica.
In an interview with Stabroek Sports following the completion of the nationals’ Wiltshire, the former three time Southern Caribbean men’s singles champion feels that this year’s teams might not be as strong because some of the past stalwarts are no longer eligible.
Nonetheless Wiltshire feels the players on this year’s team should give a good account of themselves.
“The girls and boys who played in this tournament will definitely give a good account of themselves in the under-19 and other categories,” said Wiltshire.
He disclosed that a number of the top under-19 players graduated last year and suggested that the team may not be as strong in that division compared to previous years.
However, Wiltshire said that nevertheless, they will work assiduously with the players in an effort to retain their titles. Guyana not only won the boys and girls team titles but is also the overall champions following last year’s regional tournament which was held here.
This year’s championships will run from July 20-26 and Wiltshire pointed out that coach Carl Ince assisted by the physical trainer, has been working with the players, resulting in tremendous improvement in the players so far.
“I have seen major improvement from the last tournament which was played three to four weeks ago which shows that the work that he has been putting in is paying dividends.” With just about two months remaining for the tournament the players stated that they were ready for the challenge.
Eight year-old Shomari Wiltshire is following in his father’s footsteps and is a future champion at the regional level.
Shomari was the most outstanding male junior player on show at the championships winning two categories.
“A smiling Shomari stated that…. “It’s really a difficult task to manage school and practice sessions but it finally paid off after I received all these trophies.”
Taylor Fernandez was adjudged the most outstanding female player.
Fernandes won the girls under 15 category coming from two sets of love and a couple of match balls down to triumph.
Mary Fung-A-Fat and Ashley De Groot in the girls U-19 and Victoria Arjune in the U-17 category, are all expected to do well for Guyana.
Eight or more countries will be participating in the tournament this year.
