Digicel Senior Nat Squash C/Ships… Exciting Men’s semis highlight Friday’s action

Jul 23, 2017 Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....ight-fridays-action/

The 2017 Digicel Senior National Squash Championships continued on Friday night at the Georgetown Club with semi final action in the Men’s and Women’s Open, Men’s classic plate matches, second round Men’s and Women’s plate matches and round robin matches in the Men’s Veterans categories.
In the Men’s Open both semi finals provided high class squash play with one semi- final going the full distance of five games, while the other match lasted four games.
In the first Men’s semi finals number 2 seed Richard Chin survived a five game scare against Nyron Joseph and eventually booked his place in the final. Chin easily won the first game and then won a close second game 14 – 12. Joseph, however, bounced back to win the third game 11 – 9 and the fourth game 11 – 8. Chin, however, used his experience to decisively win the fifth game 11 – 3.
In the second Men’s semi finals defending champion Alex Arjoon again renewed his rivalry with Kristian Jeffrey. It was a replay of last year’s final when Arjoon emerged victorious and Jeffery was hoping to turn the tables this time around. Jeffery won a long first game 14 – 12, but Arjoon fought back to win the second game 11 – 5. These two games seemed to take its toll on Jeffery as Arjoon then stepped up the pressure and won the third and fourth games fairly comfortably 11 – 5, 11 – 6.
In the first Women’s semi finals number 1 seed Nicolette Fernandes showed her class as she defeated Caribbean U-19 champion Taylor Fernandes 11 – 8, 11 – 6, 11 – 0.
In the second Women’s semi finals, defending champion Ashley Khalil showed that she is still a force to be reckoned with when she withstood the challenge of Mary Fung-A-Fat to advance to her second consecutive final. Ashley had game ball in the first game at 10 – 8 but Fung-a-Fat held her nerve and eventually won the game 13 – 11. Khalil increased the pace of the game and won the second game 11 – 5 and then easily won the third game 11 – 1. Fung-a-Fat jumped out to a 6 – 1 lead in the fourth game but could not hold this lead as Khalil clawed her way back to six all and eventually closed out the match with a 11 – 8 game win.
In the Men’s classic plate Jason Ray Khalil bounced back from his devastating loss the previous evening to Joseph to overcome Jean Claude Jeffrey in straight games 11 – 8, 11 – 9, 11 – 2, while Nicolette Fernandes showed an extremely talented Shomari Wiltshire that he still has a lot to learn when she used her skill to comfortably defeat him 11 – 3, 11 – 2, 11 – 8 despite the at times, over 25-shots rallies between Fernandes and the 13-year-old Wilshire who never seemed to lose his cool.
In the Men’s plate there were straight set wins in three of the four matches. Steven Xavier defeated Douglas De Groot 16 – 14, 11 – 5, 11 – 4, while Nicholas Narain beat Jonathan Antczak 11 – 3, 11 – 5, 12 – 10. Ben Mekdeci cruised past Adam Alves winning 11 – 3, 11 – 8, 11 – 2, while Javed Rahaman had a tough battle before overcoming Alex Cheeks 11 – 5, 8 – 11, 11 – 8, 12 – 10.
In the Women’s plate Abosaide Cadogan won a hard fought match against her junior teammate Kirsten Gomes eventually winning 8 – 11, 11 – 5, 11 – 4, 12 – 10 while Victoria Arjoon had to play four games before beating Rebecca Low 11 – 2, 5 – 11, 11 – 3, 11 – 1. Makeda Harding
also had a four-game win as she defeated Madison Fernandes 12 – 10, 11 – 7, 7 – 11, 11 – 7.
In the Veterans 35 – 49, Joe Mekdeci all but sealed up the title with his hard fought five game win over Khalil Alli. Joe won 12 – 10, 11 – 3, 4 – 11, 7 – 11, 11 – 2. Medhi Ramdhani defeated Robin Low in straight games 11 – 5, 11 – 4, 11 – 2.
In the Veterans Over-50, David Fernandes fought hard to secure his victory against Stephen Persaud. David won 11 – 7, 7 – 11, 18 – 16, 11 – 9.
The final matches in all of the categories were scheduled for last night with the presentation of prizes to follow immediately after the Men’s final.