Khalil, Pollard and Narain advance to semi-final round

JASON-Ray Khalil, Regan Pollard and Nicholas Narain advanced to the semi-final round of the Guyana Squash Association/Bounty Farm sponsored Mashramani handicap tournament with quarterfinal victories on Thursday evening at the Georgetown Club.Khalil, the defending open category champion and former Junior Caribbean champion, who is playing with a minus 22 handicap, defeated Joseph (plus 12 handicap) 16-14, 10-15, 18-16.
Pollard, a former senior Caribbean champion, playing with a minus 16 handicap, came from one game down (0-15) to defeat Ben Mekdeci (minus 10 handicap) 15-12, 15-14 in the other two sets.
Narain playing with a minus eight handicap beat Anthony Islam (plus 12 handicap) 15-13, 10-15, 16-14.
Playing in category `A’, Madison Fernandes (plus 11 handicap) defeated Brandon Debiden 15-13, 13-15, 15-9, while Makeda Harding (plus two handicap) beat Paige Fernandes (plus 12 handicap) 15-12, 15-12, Johnathan Edwards (plus six handicap) defeated Gigmi Carpenter (plus six handicap) 15-9, 18-16 and Savannah Mendes (0 handicap) edged out Zachary Persaud (plus eight handicap) 15-12, 15-11.
The semifinals were set for last evening and the final in the open category as well as the `A’ division will be played today at the same venue.
Last evening, Pollard was down to face Narain, Khalil would have come up against the winner of the Ryan Rahaman versus Lloyd Fung-A-Fat quarter-final match to decide the finalists.
In the `A’ category, Madison Fernandes was down to play Harding, and Edwards was to have met Mendes to determine the two finalists.
The Plate final is also scheduled to be played today after which a fundraising barbecue will be held.