Pollard, Fernandes to face challenging tests
By Michael DaSilva
Guyana Chronicle
June 1, 2002
Guyana's Commonwealth Games selectee Regan Pollard is expected to be severely tested this weekend as play in the Georgetown Open squash tournament continues at the Georgetown Club.
Pollard, seeded number two for the tournament, can expect keen competition from Trinidad and Tobago's national men's champion Paul DeVerteil, who has been seeded number one for this tournament.
Exciting squash is also expected from number three seed Nick Kyme of Bermuda and St. Lucia's Charlie Sonson who is ranked five. The number four seed is Guyanese Shawn Badrinauth.
Several other Regional players, mainly Barbadians, are in the country for the tournament.
In the women's category, Nicolette Fernandes who has also been selected to represent Guyana at the Common-wealth Games, slated for Manchester, England, in July, should have little to worry about, since no overseas ladies have accepted the invitation to participate in the Georgetown Open (formerly the Cirkel Open).
Recently crowned local under-19 girls champion, Kristina King and current under-17 Caribbean champion Tiffany Solomon, will also contest the women's division.
The preliminary round of the competition started on Thursday evening and should have been completed last evening. The quarter final and semi-finals are slated for today and the final, tomorrow.
A new men's champion will be crowned tomorrow, since the tournament, though having a new name, will be without the Cirkel (last year's) defending champion Richard Chin or the runner-up Garfield Wiltshire. The latter won the Cirkel Open in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
The ladies final should see defending Cirkel Open champion and runner-up Nicolette Fernandes and Denise Jeffrey respectively, clashing for top honours.
According to a source, Chin who has been representing the United States of America for the past 16 years, and who was seeded number two in the U.S. up to last year, is currently on official duty with that country's squash team.
Both DeVerteuil and Sonson last played in Guyana in 2000 when they were seeded number two and five respectively. That year, Wiltshire beat DeVerteuil 3-2 to claim the men's title. Deverteuil had earlier beaten Sonson 3-0 in a semi-final encounter.
Fernandes told Stabroek Sport that she is disappointed that no foreign ladies have come for the tournament once again, as the competition would have been much better, not only for her, but for the other females.
The local squash `Queen' (Fernandes) will be returning to England on Thursday to continue her preparations for the Commonwealth Games and will once again be under the tutelage of Neil Harvey, coach of the world's number one men's player who took her (Fernandes) through a two-week programme last month. This time around however, Harvey will be working with her until the Commonwealth Games.