Fernandes, Kyne G/town open squash champs
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
June 4, 2002
Commonwealth Games selectee and national women's squash champion, Nicolette Fernandes, captured the women's crown at the Just concluded Georgetown Open Invitational Squash Tournament played at the Georgetown Club by defeating compatriot Denise Jeffrey 9-0, 9-3, 9-0 in the final.
Bermuda's Nick Kyne came from one set down to defeat St. Lucia's Charlie Sonson 4-9, 9-4, 9-1, 9-0 for the men's title.
Paul DeVerteuil (ranked one) of Trinidad and Guyana's Regan Pollard (ranked two) had to settle for third and fourth respectively in the men's division while Andrea King beat Kristina King for the third spot among the women.
In their third place play-off DeVerteuil beat Pollard 9-1, 9-1, 9-10, 9-1, while Andrea King defeated Kristina King 9-5, 9-5, 9-3 for third.
Kyne put away DeVerteuil in three straight sets 9-7, 9-2, 9-4 in their semi-final encounter while Sonson beat Pollard 9-7, 9-1, 7-9, 9-3 in the other semi-final fixture.
In the ladies plate competition, Tiffany Solomon beat Chauntelle Fernandes 7-9, 9-4, 9-4, 9-0, while in men's plate, Damion DaSilva upstaged the more experienced Robert Fernandes 9-6, 9-1, 1-9, 9-6.
In the men's Classic Plate final, Guyana's Shawn Badrinauth beat Trinidad's Colin Ramsara 9-5, 9-1, 9-4.
As has been the case in most of his earlier matches, Kyne used the first set to feel out his opponent before working on their weaknesses in the other sets.
In the men's final, it was no different, since Kyne, who has been selected by the Bermuda Olympic Association for the Commonwealth Games, slated for Manchester, England next month, dropped the first set 4-9 but stormed back in the second and won by a similar margin.
From the third set, Kyne started to use the drop shot more frequently, causing Sonson to have to move from the deep court to the front. This proved effective, since it caused one of Sonson's old ankle injury to work up and he was subsequently unable to get to the front court fast enough.
In all his matches, Kyne showed the ability to anticipate his opponents' shots, giving him ample time to reach the ball.
After the loss, Sonson told Stabroek Sport that he would not blame his old injury for the loss but..."I was getting problems moving side to side and even forward sometimes" Sonson said and admitted "Kyne is a better player than me".
Kyne told Stabroek Sport that the Bermuda government sponsored him for the just concluded tournament, since they saw it as a preparation for the Commonwealth Games.
Kyne said he was happy to have come to Guyana for the tournament since it gave him the exposure he needs before the Commonwealth Games.
Kyne received US$600 while Sonson took home US$350. DeVerteuil won US$200 and Pollard US$50. Nicolette Fernandes won the US$400 first prize and Jeffrey US$200.
Fernandes and Pollard will be joined by Canadian based Guyanese Luke Fraser in England next month. However, Fernandes will be travelling to England on Thursday for specialised training with Neil Harvey, coach of the world's number one men's player.
At the presentation ceremony held at the residence of Alana and Andrew King, Garfield Wiiltshire, manager of the Commonwealth Games squash team, thanked the seven overseas players for their participation especially since it gave the locals good competition. Wiltshire also thanked the sponsors who he said are a couple of faithful sponsors that came up with the US$2000 prize monies.
He thanked the Georgetown Club for making available three rooms to house the foreign players.
The other sponsors were; Bounty Farm Limited, John Fernandes Limited, Banks DIH Limited, Bud Lee, Walter Chin, Billy Fung-A-Fat, Clifford Reis, Dennis Dias and Joe Mekdeci.
Guyana Squash Association's president Khalil Alli in brief remarks stated that the success of the tournament was due to the support of the sponsors and the Georgetown Club.
"It was a great few days of squash and good fun. It was good for our Commonwealth Games team and a good opportunity for our young players to get the type of exposure they got" Alli stated.
The presentation of prizes to the respective winners were done by Bounty Farm's Managing Director Patrick DeGroot and Lois Narine of the Georgetown Club.