MAPLES 2015 Senior Caribbean Squash Championships 15-23 Aug
Grand Cayman
Sat 22nd, Team Finals:
An
early start to finals day, with the six remaining men's and
women's matches at 09.00, and the last pair of Vets matches at
12.00 to finish.
Men's Final:
Jamaica 4-1 T&T
Ashante Smith 3-2 Josh Pinard 7/11, 11/8, 7/11, 11/9,
11/7
Lewis Walters 3-2 Nku Patrick 7/11, 11/9,
7/11, 11/4, 11/3
Chris Binnie 3-0 Kale Wilson
11/9, 11/4, 11/3
Bruce Burrowes 1-3 Don Lee
Julian Morrison 3-2 Mandela Patrick Women's Final: Guyana
3-2 Barbados
Title
favourites Jamaica and Guyana captured the men's ands women's
team titles in dramatic fashion on the last day of action at
South Sound Squash Club.
Jamaica's men, seeded four but everyone's favourites for the
title, took the first three matches against T&T to clinch their
first title since 2005.
Jamaica
had to fight back in both of the opening matches though, Ashante
Smith twice having to fight back before beating Josh Pinard in
five, and then Lewis Walters needing to do exactly the same to
beat Nku Patrick in the fifth.
There were no dramas in the third match though, as individual
champion Chris Binnie despatched Kale Wilson in three games.
"We probably have our strongest team ever," said a delighted
Jamaican coach Ren้ Denis, "but we still had a few testing
moments. "Our number five wasn't well for the first match, but
had a really good win today, and with Lewis and Chris to follow
that was a great start for us.
"Our
strength in depth is good, Julian had a brilliant tournament
too, and with any luck we should be even stronger next year in
the men's and women's events.
"This is certainly the best result since I've been involved,
all credit to the team they deserved it."
The women's final went the full distance.
Ashley Degroot got Guyana off to a good start with a 3-0 win,
then Amanda Heywood got the better of Mary Fung-a-Fat in five to
level the match - fightbacks in the first and fifth games the
key to the youngster's success.
Individual
champion Karen Meakins won a tough three games against Ashley
Khalil to put Barbados in front, but then it was Guyana's turn
to level the match as Larissa Wiltshire won in straight games.
That
set up the decider between two more of the Caribbean's top
juniors, Akeila Wiltshire and Meagan Best - the U19 and U15
winners in the recent CASA juniors.
It was perhaps the greater experience of Akeila, who also
competed in the World Juniors last month, which prevailed in
four games, but as Meagan fought back from 4-10 to 9-10 in the
fourth the tension and the noise levels rose.
Finally
though Akeila finished it off to the delight of her team.
"We maybe didn't play our best squash this week," said Guyana
manager Ramon Chan-a-Sue. "Barbados really pushed us in the
final, especially their juniors, but our girls all battled hard
and we're really happy to come through as champions again."
The final match of
the tournament was the Vets decider, with Barbados beating T&T
3-2 to maintain their unbeaten record as the collected the Vets,
and the Overall title too.