Annual sports awards
Squash Association nominates Badrinauth, Fernandes
Stabroek News
January 10, 2004
The Guyana Squash Association (GSA) has nominated Shawn Badrinauth and Nicolette Fernandes for the 2003 Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year awards.
The association also submitted the names of Damien DaSilva and Kristina King for the Junior Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards. It has nominated Carl Ince for the Sports Coach of the Year, its Junior Squash Team for the Sports Team award and GSA for Sports Association of the Year.
According to a GSA release, Badrinauth started 2003 by winning the Bounty Farm Ltd Handicap Tournament in February. He then ventured to St Lucia in June and finished second in the St Lucia Open. From St Lucia, Badrinauth proceeded to Barbados and successfully defended the Barbados Open title he had won in 2002.
Badrinauth also led his team to victory in the GSA's Easter Team Tournament. He played unbeaten.
He was subsequently selected to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Squash Championships in Barbados and finished a creditable third in the individual event.
In October, Badrinauth participated in the PSA Challenge in Trinidad and placed fourth. This tournament had in the draw professional squash players which makes his fourth place finish commendable. The local champion went back to Trinidad in November and captured the Cascadia Open title.
The release pointed out also that Badrinauth is one of the coaches attached to the GSA's Junior Squash Programme which is conducted weekly at the Georgetown Club. He also did extensive work with the National Junior Team which was successful at the Caribbean Junior Squash championships held here in Guyana in July.
Fernandes, for her part, had another outstanding year in 2003. Apart from continuing her specialist training in England, in March 2003 she participated in the Savcor Finnish Open and lost in the second round of the qualifiers. Also in March, she participated in the Young Wimbledon Cup in England and lost in the first round of the main draw. In May, she participated in two tournaments - both in France - the Open De La Cite where she lost in the second round of the qualifiers and the Brest Open where she lost in the first round of the main draw. In June, she won the St Lucia Open and in July, she participated in the Egyptian Circuit No 1 and lost in the first round of the main draw.
Fernandes was subsequently selected to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Squash Championships in Barbados and finished runner up in the ladies individual event.
In October, Fernandes participated in two tournaments - the Ottawa International in Canada where she lost in the first round of the qualifiers and the Procter Memorial in England where she lost in the quarterfinals.
In December, the local squash `Queen' participated in the Boston Open in England and lost in the quarterfinals.
Da Silva won the plate event of the Broadband National Senior Open Squash Championships and the Caribbean Boys Under-17 title at the Junior Caribbean Championships.
He played unbeaten at this event which resulted in the Guyana boys' team winning the team event and the Guyana team capturing the overall team title.
King firstly won the under-17 division of the Toucan Mash Junior Tournament before capturing the national under-17 and under-19 titles. When she contested the national senior championships, she placed fourth.
She was then selected to represent Guyana at the Junior Caribbean Champion-ships where she captured the Caribbean Under-17 title and was instrumental in Guyana regaining the girls' team title and the Overall team title. She played unbeaten at this tournament.
As a result of her outstanding performances during the year, King was selected to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Senior Champion-ships. She performed creditably at this tournament.
She is also the Mae's Secondary School interhouse swimming champion.
Ince, the GSA's national coach was responsible for the outstanding achievements of the junior and senior squash teams during 2003. He was also the person responsible for the significant improvements in the performances of Kristina King, Diana King, Stanley Marcus, Kristian Jeffrey, the late Gerard Greaves, DaSilva and Badrinauth during 2003.
Ince also received tutoring for his Level 4 Coaching Certificate in England and will complete it this year. He is also the main coach at the Association's Junior Programme, which is held weekly.
In supporting its claim for the sports association award, the GSA stated that teams were selected to participate in two regional team tournaments and several individual tournaments in the Caribbean, North America and Europe.
The association held the Bounty Handicap in February, the Toucan Junior tournament in March, an Easter Team Tournament in April, the Woodpecker Junior National Championships in May, the Broadband Senior National Championships in July and hosted over 100 players from eight Caribbean Countries at the Caribbean Squash Championships which were also held in July at three local venues.
An inter-club tournament was held during the period OctoberNovember.
The association also sent individuals to participate in several individual tournaments in St Lucia Barbados, Trinidad, Canada and the USA.
With regard to its junior team, the association said it played unbeaten at the Junior Caribbean Championships, with both the boys and girls winning all five of their matches.
There were eight boys' teams and six girls' teams at the championships.
This resulted in Guyana winning the Overall Team Title, only the third time in the history of Caribbean squash that a team has captured both the Boys' and Girls' team titles.?