President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA), David Fernandes, has disclosed that the nullification of the 2020 season has been a huge disappointment, especially for the nation’s junior squash players.
Guyana’s anticipated participation at the 2020 Pan Am junior squash championships in El Salvador was quashed due to the global COVID-19. It was a great opportunity lost since the association was aiming to expose Shomari Wiltshire, Michael Alphonso, Nicholas Verwey and a few others to topflight squash outside of their comfort zones.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s well-documented history at the Junior Caribbean level was interrupted as the likes of Wiltshire, Kirsten Gomes Abosaide Cagogan, and Alphonso, who captured gold in Trinidad during the 2019 edition of the tournament, were robbed of the opportunity to add further silverware to their cabinets. The Junior CASA was scheduled for Bermuda in July 2020 but was scrapped by the Caribbean Area Squash Association due to the pandemic.
“It would have been an unbelievable year (2020) for the junior team. I think we had a chance to regain the number one overall sport in junior Caribbean squash championships,” Fernandes told Stabroek Sport.
The South Americans once held the overall title for 12 consecutive years from 2005 – 2016 before being dethroned by Barbados at home in 2017. They then failed to regain the top spot in Jamaica and Trinidad the following years. It was envisaged that Wilshire, Cadogan, Gomes, Alphonso, Verwey, Madison Fernandes, and other juniors in 2020 would have been primed and motivated to lift the team cup in Bermuda but COVID-19 concocted other ideas.
Additionally, the quashed El Salvador trip was equally disappointing, according to Fernandes.
Nevertheless, the squash president is keeping the same energy for 2021 if this year’s edition of the junior premier Caribbean squash is staged.
“…Not being able to play squash in 2020 has made quite a few of them excited to start again once we get the go ahead from the authorities and they’ve all grown,” said Fernandes.
He added: “Even though it would have been great to see our kids perform in Bermuda, I think that we’ll still be very competitive this year and not much of our kids have aged out so we have quite a few of them around. Our team is quite balanced one.”
In the meantime, the squash boss said the association has been interacting with the players, but he disclosed that the legendary Coach Carl Ince, who has been the centerpiece of Guyana’s success over the years, hasn’t been able to do much technical work with the players because of the health risks involved.
Commenting on the impact of COVID-19 on the nation’s senior squash players like Mary Fung-A-Fat, who is forging a pro careers, Fernandes said it has perhaps affected them even more.
“Our seniors may have been more affected. None of them have been able to play. None of them,” he emphasised.
