Guyana in four individual finals
- but siblings Andrea and Kristina King lose titles
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
July 19, 2004
Siblings Andrea and Kristina King both lost their junior Caribbean squash titles, but four other locals were down to contest finals in their respective divisions yesterday in the Cayman Islands.
According to team coach Denise Jeffrey, defending champion and number-one seed, Andrea King, lost her girls under-19 title in three straight games to Barbados' Bo Harris while Kristina King lost her girls under-17 title to compatriot and number-four seed Chantelle Fernandes by a 2-3 margin in thew semi-finals. Speaking to Stabroek Sport by telephone yesterday, the coach said Damien DaSilva, the 2003 boys under-17 champion, reached the under-19 final by disposing of Barbados' Rhett Cumberbatch 3-1.
Kristian Jeffrey, the 2003 boys under-17 runner-up and number-four seed defeated compatriot and number-one seed Stanley Marcus in three straight games on Saturday to reach the final.
Kayla Jeffrey, the number-three girls under-13 seed beat OECS' Shemina Slater, the number-one seed 3-2 to also reach the final in her division.
According to Denise, her daughter Kimberly won the girls under-19 Plate trophy yesterday by defeating OECS' Krista Donnet.
Other local plate winners are; girls under-13 number-two seed Keisha Jeffrey who defeated Barbados' T. Marshall in three straight games after being beaten 1-3 by Bermuda's K. Barnes in a quarter-final fixture and Ryan Farnum, who beat Barbados' Andrew Robinson 3-2 in the boys under-19 plate final.
Yesterday also, Andrea King lost in the under-19 third-place play-off to Trinidad's Jaime Galt in three straight games. Stanley Marcus (Guyana) also lost in the boys under-17 third-place play-off. He was beaten by Barbados' Bryant Cumberbatch 3-0.
Alex Arjoon won his boys under-13 third-place play-off by beating Bermuda's J. Alson 3-0. Arjoon had lost by a 0-3 margin in his semi-final match against OECS' Diarra Venner the number-two seed.
The other locals that also lost their matches on Saturday were Daina King, who lost to Cayman Islands' Samantha Hennings in the girls under-15 age group, and Rahul Singh who lost his boys under-15 semi-final match.
This is the first time in six years that Fernandes has been able to upstage Kristina King. Both players are 16 years of age and both have been playing squash since they were 10 years old.
According to Denise, the scores in the Fernandes versus Kristina King match (9/7, 9/6, 6/9, 1/9, 9/2) does not reveal the amount of hand outs that match had.
Denise said the match was thrilling throughout and brought out the best in both players.
Fernandes was down to face Trinidad's Joann Scoon in the girls under-17 final yesterday evening. Scoon, the number-three seed had beaten Barbados' Nadia McCarthy 3-2 to reach the final.
Kayla Jeffrey was billed to play Barnes, a relatively unknown player in yesterday's girls under-13 final.
DaSilva was scheduled to take on the winner of the all Jamaican under-19 semi-final affair between Brad Low and David Patterson in yesterday's final while number four seed Kristian Jeffrey was down to tackle Jamaican Kris Binnie the number-three seed in the boys under-17 final.
Binnie had beaten Barbados' Bryant Cumberbatch, the number-one seed who has ruled the roost at the junior Caribbean level for a number of years.
Asked about the locals chances of winning their respective individual divisions, Denise said it will be tough for all of them but they are not without chances. She said they are all playing really well.
Both the boys and girls team matches will commence tomorrow. Today is a rest day.
Guyana are the defending boys, girls and overall team champions.