Guyana will be fielding its largest touring team ever to attend the Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships which open on Sunday in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Guyana Squash Association (GSA) announced that 28 junior players will be attending the regional championships during a media briefing yesterday at the Georgetown Club. The championships will run from July 15-22 and will attract eight countries.
President of the GSA, David Fernandes who will be accompanying the team as Manager is brimful of confidence of Guyana retaining the boys’ and girls’ championships as well as individual titles.
While several of the players who helped the team to success last year have now advanced to the senior level, Fernandes believes that the current squad of players are talented and will be a force to be reckoned with during the tournament.
“We have the number one and number 2 ranked players in the Caribbean in Michael Alphonso and Nicholas Verwey in the team as well as Mohryan Baksh and Louis DaSilva who are also highly seeded. In addition, in the girls’ division we have captain Kirsten Gomes and Safriah Sumner who will be leading the charge at Under-19 and under-17 categories,” he added.
There are also other talented players such as Avery Arjoon, Justin Ten-Pow, Kaylee Low and Tianna Gomes. Eight-year-old Zion Hickerson is the youngest member of the team.
Fernandes said that corporate Guyana and government have provided tremendous assistance with local telecommunication company E-Net, KFC, MVP Sport, The Ministry of Sport, Guyana Olympic Association and John Fernandes Limited among the major contributors.
E-Net Marketing Manager Robert Hiscock said his company has rolled out an 18-month sponsorship package with the GSA while KFC Marketing Manager Pamela Manasseh said the local franchise was once again pleased to be sponsoring a team of talented young boys and girls.
The full squad reads: Under-19 Boys – Nicholas Verwey, Michael Alphonso Jr, and Demetrius DeAbreu. Under-17 Boys – Louis DaSilva, Mohryan Baksh, Shiloh Asregado, Joshua Verwey, Chad DeAbreu, Jeremy Ten Pow, Demetri Lowe. Under-15 Boys –Richard Rodrigues, Avian Wade, Blake Edwards. Under-13 Boys – Justin Ten-Pow, Jacob McDonald. Under-11 Boys – Ethan Bulkan, Zion Hikerson. Under-19 Girl – Kirsten Gomes, Under-17 Girls – Safriah Sumner, Rylee Rodrigues. Under-15 Girls – Avery Arjoon, Malia Maikoo, Emily Fung-A-Fat, Jnae Singh. Under-13 Girls – Kaylee Lowe, Tianna Gomes. Under-11 – Zoey McDonald and Tehani Munroe.
The coaches are Nyron Joseph and Samuel Ince-Carvalhal. The competing nations are Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and host St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
