England-based Guyanese squash player Nicolette Fernandes hopes to become the first Guyanese woman to win the Caribbean senior ladies squash title when the championships get underway from tomorrow in Barbados.

Fernandes, who returned home to join her compatriots before journeying to Barbados today with the rest of the team, said all her life this is what she has always wanted. “No Guyanese has ever won the Caribbean senior title and this is my dream, this is what I wanted, I’m going to try my best to win this title,” Fernandes stated.

Asked how was her seven-month stint in England, Fernandes replied, “These seven months were incredible, technically, I’ve improved and I’m in better shape physically. My coach (Neil Harvey) has brought professionalism into my game.”

The former Caribbean junior champion said while there are just a few good players in Guyana and the Caribbean, in England there are many and this is what she wanted, “I wanted the competition to raise my game,” Fernandes said.

Asked if she is looking forward to meeting the defending Caribbean women’s champion, Jamaican Merlene West, Fernandes said: “I’m looking forward to meeting Merlene, the first time I met her I was just 15 years old, now I think I’m at her level and can take the title.”

“I want to give my career a 100 percent. At the end of my life (squash) I don’t want to say I did my best. I’m going to Barbados and hopefully, I’ll bring back the title to Guyana,” the soft spoken multi-talented athlete said.

Fernandes is currently ranked 112th in the Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) and 47th in the under-23 ranking. She moved from 137th in February to 112th.

According to Fernandes, a WISPA player only gets ranking when she plays and wins tournaments sanctioned by WISPA, and these are held all over the world, but because of funding, she cannot participate in all the tournaments she wants to.

Fernandes’s stint in England is being funded by Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) but this will end in December, unless DDL extends the sponsorship.

Fernandes, who defeated Caribbean junior boys under-17 champion, Damien DaSilva 2-1 in a Diamond Mineral Water `Clash of Champions’ squash exhibition on Monday night at the Georgetown Club, said after the Barbados tournament, she will return to Guyana and look at the WISPA calendar before deciding when she will return to England to continue her training.

Asked how she feels about her WISPA ranking, Fernandes said: “I’m so proud to represent Guyana and the Caribbean at that level, and I wants to thank those people who came here tonight (Monday) to see me play, I never thought the turnout would have been so great.”

Fernandes said she is truly grateful to Diamond Mineral Water for sponsoring her to train and campaign in England and Europe.