The Guyana Squash Association (GSA) will serve off the Farfan and Mendes junior team tournament today at the Georgetown Club’s squash facility beginning at 18:30hrs.
The year’s fourth tournament will see the country’s top juniors going head-to-head in a skill level based team tournament similar to the team tournament format utilized in the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) junior championships.
The subtle difference will be that players will be ranked in terms of skill on each team (from first to fifth string) while at the Caribbean level, the team will comprise a representative from each age category.
Junior affairs chairperson of GSA, Tiffany Solomon, says that the teams have been compiled in a manner which should give rise to a thrilling and competitive tournament. According to Solomon, the teams are evenly matched in terms of skill and the inclusion of some of the younger players will definitely add another dimension of competitiveness and uncertainty to the competition.
She also stated that the tournament comes at an opportune moment when the juniors are training intensely for the 30th Junior Caribbean Squash Championships which will be held in Jamaica from July 20th-27th.
“We haven’t had a team tournament for the year and this falls perfect with the junior team preparing for CASA next month. It gives them good match practice because it matches up against persons of similar skill so it becomes very competitive…, it should be really fun to watch,” Solomon said.
“It’s generally good match preparation and it also gives them the feel of playing a team tournament like what some of them will have to play at CASA,” Solomon added.
Six teams and a total of 30 players will be competing in this year’s event. Among the 30 players that will be competing are is four-time Caribbean junior champion Victoria Arjoon. The former Marian Academy student who now studies at St George’s High School in Rhode Island, USA, recently returned home to join the national squad for the Caribbean Junior Squash Championships.
Each team encounter will have five matches, using the conventional, three best of five game match, 11-point format. There will be three team encounters each night, which means a total of 15 matches per night, before the tournament concludes on Saturday evening. There will also be a morning session on Saturday beginning at 10:00hrs. The Farfan and Mendes Junior Team Tournament is the final junior tournament before the Caribbean Junior Championships next month.
