NATIONAL Boys Under-11 champion Shomari Wiltshire and former Caribbean champion Victoria Arjoon both made it into the  semi-finals, while defending Boys Under-17 champion Nyron Joseph slid into the quarterfinals, when competition in the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Squash Championships started off earlier this week at the Cascadia and Queen’s Park Oval squash courts in Trinidad and Tobago.

Suffering losses only in the younger categories, it was mostly wins for the Guyanese side, as the two players advanced into the semifinals and another eight made it over into the quarterfinals of their respective categories.
Wiltshire moved into the semifinals of the Boys Under-13 category, where he was yesterday expected to come up against OECS Kai Bentick, after he had earlier disposed of Bermuda’s Anaya Smith in a tough five-set match that ended 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, 11-4, 11-4.
Arjoon had an easier time in her match up against Cayman Islands’ Nike Broderick. Contesting her first year in the Girls’ Under-19 category, Arjoon defeated Broderick 11-0, 11-1,11-0, and was yesterday scheduled to play T&T’s Talia Abdool.
The Girls’ Under-19 title is up for grabs this year with last year’s winner, Guyana’s Mary Fung-A-Fat, out of the way. Fung-A-Fat was ineligible for this year’s competition having surpassed the age limit. The same goes for last year’s runner-up Ashley DeGroot, also Guyanese.
That leaves Joseph as the team’s only member guarding a current CASA title. Joseph has so far done a good job holding down the fort, taking out T&T’s Darnell Gittens 11-1, 11-2, 11-5, to make it to the quarterfinals where he will face Sean Murphy, also from Cayman Islands.
It was smooth sailing in the Girls Under-17 category where all four of Guyana’s girls made it through to the quarterfinals. Guyana’s Gabriel Fraser and national Girls’ Under-15 champion Taylor Fernandes both made it past their adversaries and were joined by the Wiltshire sisters – Akeila and Larissa.
Fraser defeated Gianna Alexander 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, while last year’s CASA Girls’ Under-15 runner-up Larissa got past  Deiriai Myers 11-2, 11-1, 11-4. Fernandes beat Bermuda’s Tiye Williams 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.
In the quarterfinals, Akeila is pitted against Cayman Islands’ Lara Conolly; Larissa was expected to face T&T’s Faith Guillezeau, Fraser was also against a Trinidadian, competing against Leigh Edgehill; and Fernandes  played Barbados’ Gylla McKenzie.
Fate was not as good in the Girls’ Under-15 category where Savannah Mendes, national Girls’ Under-15 champion Sarah Lewis and Rebecca Low all suffered losses.  Mendes lost 3-11,3-11,13-11,10-12 to Jamaica’s Sarah Conway, Lewis lost 1-11,11-13,3-11 to T&T’s Marie Claire Barcant, and Low lost 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 8-11 to T&T’s Alexandria Yearwood.
In the Girls Under-13 category, first-timers Maya Colllins and national Girls’ Under-11 champion Makeda Harding both suffered losses after they found their Jamaica contenders too hard to handle. Collins went under to Mia Lake 11-9, 3-11, 3-11, 7-11, while Harding lost 4-11, 7-11, 9-11 to Mia Mahfood following a first round 11-1, 11-1, 11-6 win against Cayman Islands’ Sascha Broderick.
In other wins Jean Claude Jeffrey defeated OECS Eswan Adams 3-0, to join Steven Xavier in the Boys’ Under-19 quarterfinals, while Alex Cheeks beat Carl Miller 11-13, 13-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 in the Boys Under- 15 plate after he lost to Jonathan Walker (Jam) 6-11, 7-11, 4-11 in the main draw.
National Boys’ Under-15 champion Benjamin Mekdeci is into the quarterfinals where he will face off against Rithew Saywack.
Daniel and Anthony Islam suffered losses in the Boys’ Under-13 category, and Alex Melville went under 4-11, 7-11, 12-14 to Daniel Murphy in the Boys Under-17 category.