Guyana’s squash queen, Nicolette Fernandes lost a grueling five-set thriller in the women’s singles final of the South American Games last evening in Paraguay.
Fernandes, the most famous squash player in the nation’s history, jumped out to an early two-set lead against Colombia’s Laura Perez but faded down the stretch as her opponent, 14 years her junior prevailed 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 13-11.
Fernandes, 39, had struck gold in the women’s singles at the quadrennial fixture in Medellin, Colombia 12 years ago and was looking to mirror that achievement last night.
The evergreen multi-talented athlete was one set away from climbing to the top of the podium again but Perez stormed back to claim the victory.
With Fernandes snaring the silver, Guyana’s medal tally climbed to three at the 12th edition of the Games which will conclude on Saturday. Boxers, Keevin Allicock and Desmond Amsterdam earned bronze medals in their respective weight classes, featherweight and middleweight.
Guyana’s medal tally can further ascend with squash action (team) continuing today.
Yesterday the men and women’s table tennis teams lost their first round group matches with the men losing 0-3 to Argentina and the women losing by a similar margin to Chile.
