Team X-Men ravaged Danza Kuduro in four matches to clinch its second consecutive win of the Farfan and Mendes junior squash team tournament Thursday night at the Georgetown Club squash courts.
X-Men won three of the four team matches clinching the victory with the final match still to be played.
The final match will see X-Men’s second string Pablio Mundini going up against junior sensation Ben Mekdeci in a consolation encounter.
Steven Xavier, Shomari Wiltshire and Makeda Harding were the victors for team X-Men while Maya Collins conceded the team’s lone loss.
Xavier, the team’s captain, showed no mercy against Ashley deGroot in the first string match-up, crushing his fellow national junior hockey player in straight games 11/6, 11/9, 11/9. Eight-year-old squash maestro Shomari Wiltshire recovered from his opening night defeat and brushed aside Justin Gomes 11/3, 11/0, 11/2. Makeda Harding also joined the winning party by serving up a straight game win against Liam Carpenter 11/3, 11/3 and 11/1 respectively. Danza Kuduro’s Lydia Alphonso defeated Maya Collins 11/3, 11/3 and 11/1 to secure her team’s only win of the encounter.
After assaulting Victorious Secrets on the opening night, The Abusement Park was served a dose of its own medicine by the Little Rascals who remained undefeated after two team encounters. At the end of the match against Abusement Park, Little Rascals (LR) had clinched a 4-1 victory.
Daniel Islam surrendered the first game against Zachary Persaud 9/11, but the Little Rascals’ fourth string found the winning swing and won three straight games to close out Persaud.
Third string Alec Melville dominated newcomer Mahendra Khusial 3-0 (11/7, 11/4, 11/7) while the tournament’s number one seed Jason Ray Khalil outclassed Mary Fung-A-Fat 11/6, 11/7, 11/7.
Khalil engaged Fung-A-Fat in entertaining rallies, challenging the three-time Caribbean junior girls’ champion to play risky shots to kill the ball and win the point, but this did not go her way the majority of times. The fourth win came in the form of a walkover conceded by Sarah Lewis to Gianni Carpenter. The lone win for the Abusement Park was produced by second string Patrick Fraser, who met a player named Wiltshire for the second night in a row and managed to stay undefeated. After being pushed to the limit by Akeila Wiltshire on night one, Fraser got by Akelia’s sister Larissa in straight games 12/10, 11/1, 11/9.
Nyron Joseph’s resilient Black Panthers rebounded from their agonizing night one loss to the X-Men to edge Victorious Secrets 3-2. In the match between the two captains, Joseph eased by Victoria Arjoon 11/6, 11/3, 11/2 in a well contested showdown of thrilling rallies. Lucas Jonas, who had conceded the walkover that cost Black Panthers its first loss, came out strong with a commanding victory against Dominic Collins 11/2, 11/2, 11/5. Black Panthers’ third string Andrew Peroune pounded Travis Whitehead with his power shots for a straight-game win (11/2, 11/1, 11/5).
Rebecca Low defeated Anthony Islam (11/0, 11/6, 11/4), while Akeila Wiltshire defeated Taylor Fernandes 11/4, 11/4, 11/3 to give Victorious Secrets the only two wins against the Black Panthers. The tournament continues this morning beginning at 10:00hrs for the first session followed by the final session in the evening beginning at 18:00hrs to conclude the tournament.
