LONDON, England (CMC) – Guyana’s Caribbean squash champion Nicolette Fernandes captured the prize for the Most Improved Player at the World Squash Awards at the RAC Club on Friday night.
The only professional squash player ever produced by Guyana, the 23-year-old Fernandes was rewarded for several outstanding performances during the last year.
She was runner-up in her first Pan-American Championship in September before surprising many to reach the second round of the World Open Championships last month.
“When I first took up squash back in my home country Guyana, I never dreamed that one day I would be standing in front of such a distinguished audience receiving an award like this,” Fernandes said.
Fernandes, who is now based in London, beat out challenges from Australia’s Kasey Brown, Manuela Manetta of Spain and Mexico’s Samantha Teran, to take the award.
Malaysia’s Nicol David was voted Female Player-of-the-Year while Tenille Swartz of South Africa was voted Young Female Player-of-the-Year.
In the men’s category, Egypt’s Amr Shabana captured the Male Player-of-the-Year award while his compatriot Ramy Ashour took the Young Male Player-of-the-Year award.
The award proved the perfect finish to a successful year for Fernandes. Earlier this month, she surged a notable six places up the Women’s International Squash Players Association world rankings to an all-time high 29th, her first time in the top-30 of the rankings.
This move was boosted by her upset win over highly ranked Briton Jenny Duncalf at the Women’s World Open in Belfast.
Also this year, Fernandes won gold in the Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia, back in July.
Fernandes, a six-time Caribbean junior age-group champion, broke into the world Top-50 rankings late last year after a series of good international results and was subsequently chosen Guyana’s 2005 Sportswoman-of-the-Year.