Decorated and long-serving squash coach Carl Ince is set to take the Junior National Squash team under his wings for an intense period of training as the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) intensifies its readiness for the 2019 edition of the Caribbean games set for Trinidad and Tobago in July.
This is according to president of the squash body, David Fernandes.
“We are heading into a heavy period of training,” Fernandes told Stabroek Sport at the conclusion of the recent Woodpecker Junior National Championships.
He added: “They’ll be training five days per week under the supervision of coach Carl Ince and his team – Nyron Joseph, Taylor Fernandes, and Deje Dias – who have been very helpful of late and they [the squad] will also start working with fitness trainer Yisrael (Kezqweyah) so they will be well prepared for Junior CASA.”
This year’s championships is perhaps one of the more important ones in Guyana’s history. It serves as a benchmark to assess how the young core will fare following back-to-back defeats to Barbados in the teams category in the last two seasons.
Guyana, prior to 2017, dominated the regional circuit for 12 years, winning gold each time, but they were stopped at home by Barbados in 2017 and the year after by the same opponents in Jamaica.
The rivalry in Trinidad, therefore, becomes pivotal as Guyana seeks to forge another dynasty. Fernandes on that note, spoke highly of the local talent pool, apart from the obviously more established players.
“The level of the competition was good in all the categories…Mohryan [Baksh] has improved a bit, he’ll be our under – 13 boy. He is doing extremely well and working really hard. Nicholas [Verwey] and Michael [Alphonso] are right up there as well. Grant Fernandes has been steadily improving.”
Guyana won two individual gold medals in 2018 where Shomari Wiltshire and Alphonso came up as trumps. Abosaide Cadogan, on the other hand, landed silver after she was defeated by Bajan sensation Sumirra Suleman 3-2 in the girls’ under U15 final
