It might be a cliché to say that everything national squash coach Carl Ince touches turns to gold.
However, a look back at squash in Guyana this year, will see that it is a truism.
There was very little to suggest that following the COVID-19 pandemic that squash in Guyana would have its most rewarding year yet. But this is just what happened. Overall success at the Junior Caribbean Squash Championships held here earlier this year was followed by similar success in the senior championships. Interspersed in between was Nicolette Fernandes’ Pan Am Games singles triumph and later in the year, World Masters gold for the evergreen former world-ranked squash player and a bronze for Richard Chin also at the World Masters.
Add Ashley Khalil’s brilliant individual singles gold medal triumph at the senior Caribbean Area Squash Championships in Jamaica and the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) must be basking in the euphoria of stunning successes regionally and further afield.
If the junior team to the World Junior Championships in France did not enjoy much success that will surely come later as the trio of Shomari Wiltshire, Nicholas Verwey and Samuel Ince Carvahal are as talented as they come.
So to say that the year 2022 has been a remarkable year for the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) would be an understatement for some.
“This year has certainly been our best year for training and achievement and this has to be because of the joint effort and cooperation over the last three years,” said Ince in an invited comment.
Ince credits in some measure, the leadership of the Guyana Squash Association for the success.
“From good leadership, good management among the coaches and of course excellent parents support, we also had some training camps where we could concentrate on strengths weaknesses and of course a little recreation,” he added.
In July, Guyana reclaimed the overall title at the Junior Caribbean Area Squash Championships held at the Georgetown Club.
They did so by winning the boys and girls’ team titles.
It was Guyana’s first overall championship since 2015 after they lost the 2017, and 2019 overall titles to Barbados.
It was also their 13th overall title, following a streak of 12 consecutive title triumphs.
In the boys’ division Guyana downed Barbados 4-1 to complete a flawless 5-0 campaign while the girls duly disposed of Jamaica 3-2 to complete a perfect 5-0 record.
“We were all motivated by wanting to regain the junior title and defend the senior title so we can safely say mission accomplished.”
In August, the boys’ team participated at the World Juniors Squash tournament in France.
“The exposure our boys got from World Juniors in France has already started bearing fruit. We saw that in the way they played in the seniors,” Ince added.
“Congratulations to our junior and senior squash teams. You’ve made us all proud and a special congratulation to Ashley Khalil for her first senior gold medal. Special congratulations to Richard Chin on his bronze world medal and of course a very special to Nicolette Fernandes for winning the world over 35s.
In Poland, Fernandes needed to win her final match of the round-robin to win the title which she did by defeating South African Slyoli Waters 11-6, 11-5, 11-5.
She is now the only Guyanese to win a World Masters squash title while Chin won bronze after toppling Christian Borgvall of Sweden 12-14 11-8 11-7 8-11 11-6 in the men’s 50+ category.
