Fraser wins tough battle against Whitehead
PATRICK Fraser won a tough battle against Travis Whitehead to keep his hope alive when the Guyana Squash Association’s Woodpecker products-sponsored national Junior Squash Championships continued on Wednesday evening at the Georgetown Club courts.

After five sets of intense rivalry between Fraser and Whitehead, the latter came from one set down to beat his opponent by a 3-2 margin in the Boys’ Under-11 and Under-13 combined category.

After losing so disappointingly to Alexander Cheeks on the opening night, Fraser once again found himself involved in a “knock-down, drag-out affair” one night later.

After the even early exchanges, Fraser won five consecutive points to take a 8-5 lead before Whitehead took back the service and went on a six-point run of his own to claim the first 11-8.

Fraser regrouped well in the second to run away with that game 11-3.

The third belonged to Whitehead as he took advantage of a tiring Fraser on his way to an 8-3 lead, before Fraser found his second wind and threatened to mount a comeback, before Whitehead put an end to those thoughts by closing it out at 11-7.

Probably having flashbacks of his agonising loss the previous night, Fraser dug deep to blow his opponent away in the fourth and set up a highly anticipated final game.

The two youngsters didn’t disappoint, trading blows back and forth until they were tied at 8-8, but it was Fraser who broke the deadlock and got to match point at 10-8 and eventually closed it out 12-10, much to his own relief.

The night (Wednesday) was reminiscent of the opening night on Tuesday as the pint-sized players once again stole the spotlight from their older counterparts.

The display of their enthusiasm, desire and raw talent, have captured the attention of the audience during the first two nights of this year’s championships.

In other results from Wednesday night’s matches, Rebecca Low defeated Savannah Mendes 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in a Girls’ Under-11 fixture, while in the Girls’ Under-13 age group, Akeila Wiltshire beat Taylor Fernandes 11-1, 11-4, 11-4, Wiltshire’s sibling Larissa defeated Riasoya Jodah 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 and Gabrielle Fraser beat Rebecca Xavier 11-0 13-11 11-5.

In the Girls’ Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 combined category, top Caribbean Under-17 player Keisha Jeffrey defeated Caribbean Under-13 defending champion Victoria Arjoon 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 and defending Caribbean Under-15 champion Mary Fung-A-Fat made light work of Kristina Cheeks, winning 11-1, 11-2, 11-1.

In the Boys’ Under-11 and Under-13 combined category, Ben Mekdeci, the defending national Under-11 champion received a walkover from Immanuel Barker, Nyron Joseph defeated Adesina Trim 11-0, 11-1, 11-1, Ryan DaSilva 11-5, 12-10, 11-5, Matthew Phang beat Alexander Cheeks 8-11, 12-10 11-7, 11-7, Daniel Persaud defeated Kevin Rodrigues 11-2, 11-2, 11-7, while Jason Ray Khalil beat Steven Xavier 11-3, 11-5, 11-4.

The Boys’ Under-17 and Under-19 categories combined saw Khalil defeating Nicholas Peters 11-0, 11-1, 11-1 and Nicholas Narain receiving a walkover from Dylan Walker.

The players are using this tournament to impress the national selectors with an aim of being selected to represent Guyana at the Junior Caribbean Championships fixed for Barbados in July.
The tournament continues this evening at the same venue beginning at 18:00 h.