Nicolette Fernandes to contest men’s open category
FOR the second year running Nicolette Fernandes has been allowed to compete in the Men’s Open category of the Guyana Squash Association’s National Senior Championships, which got under way last evening at the Georgetown Club courts.

Fernandes, who is currently ranked 101 by the Women’s International Squash Players Association in their July 2009 rankings, will also contest the women’s category as she continues her comeback trail after being out of the sport for just over a year.

Defending men’s champion Kristian Jeffrey is back from competing for Western University in the Canadian University championships, and is quite intent on claiming his second, of what is expected to be numerous senior national titles.

He is expected to receive a strong challenge from the number two seed and former national champion Regan Pollard who has worked extremely hard over the past year to be back in top shape for the Caribbean squash season.

The other challengers for the men’s title will be the experienced former champion Robert Fernandes as well as young guns Alexander Arjoon and Raphael deGroot.

On the ladies’ side, the young brigade of Ashley Khalil and the Jeffrey twins, Keisha and Kayla, will try their best to extend Fernandes over the next week of competition.

The tournament will be a good warm-up for the junior national team which is due to depart for Barbados next Friday to defend their team titles in the Boys, Girls and Overall categories.