Now that the dust has settled and the adrenaline subsided, coach Carl Ince and President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) David Fernandes, have commended the quality of performances displayed by hosts Guyana at the 2019 Senior Caribbean Squash Championships held here.
The Guyanese athletes won gold in the men and women’s team categories en route to capturing the overall title.
The championships also saw vintage Nicolette Fernandes dethroning Barbadian Megan Best to capture the women’s singles title while Jason Ray Khalil and Kristian Jeffery took gold in the men’s doubles category as Ashley Khalil, Taylor Fernandes snapped up silver.
Ince lauded the locals for their clinical performance.
“I’m extremely satisfied with Guyana’s showing. They all did pretty well. They all worked hard so the reward is deserving,” Ince told Stabroek Sport in a recent interview. The Squash Coach was particularly encouraged by the way the female team went about business and is hoping that they will stick together to accomplish more success.
“These girls that we have now, if we keep them together and stay on programme, we will see much more of what we are seeing now,” Ince said of Taylor and Nicolette Fernandes, Mary Fung-A-Fat, Ashley Khalil, Ashley De Groot and Larissa Wiltshire who trounced Barbados in the women’s team final.
Ince said that he hopes to see more of Nicolette Fernandes, who retired from Pro Squash but returned for the 2019 championships.
He described 49-year-old Richard Chin’s efforts during the tournament as “special.” Squash Association President Fernandes said that he was proud of those who made the hosting of the championships a success.
“I’m really proud of everyone… the team who organised the event. We have a really good executive and everyone played their part. It was special.”
He commended Ince’s contribution on the technical side, noting the Coach played a significant part in the outstanding performances at the championship.
“As regard the squash we all saw, Coach Ince is absolutely the key factor in our success over the years and it starts with the junior programme. It’s probably the best in the Caribbean and it produces the senior players you see here today.”
He also described the women’s team as the most outstanding to ever be assembled and he too highlighted Chin’s influence as a major boost being around the team.
The President said that was happy to see Nicolette playing squash again but underscored the point that they may pick and choose which tournaments to compete at.
“Nicolette is kinda like Chin on the women’s side. She is special. She is a mentor. She is gifted beyond belief and I’m just happy to see her playing again and most importantly on her terms.”
