PRESIDENT of the Guyana Squash Association, David Fernandes, said he is very pleased with the number of youths currently involved in the sport and hopes that the number can grow over the next year.

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport, Fernandes, who will be running for a another term in office when the association’s Annual General Meeting is held on Friday, said during the past year, more than 50 youths

have been involved in the sport and the actual number of active squash players have grown to more than 100.
He, however, pointed out that not all of the more than 100 players are actually competitive.
“Some play the sport to keep fit, while others just like playing the sport,” the assistant General Manager of Bounty Farm Limited told Chronicle Sport.
Fernandes, whose company (Bounty Farm Limited) along with telecommunications `Giant’ Digicel sponsored the just concluded Mashramani Handicap Tournament, thanked Digicel for coming on board for the past three years and made a call for corporate sponsors to follow suit.
“Without the corporate community sponsorship sports in Guyana will not move ahead. It is the corporate sponsorship that has some sports alive in Guyana,” Fernandes stated.
Fernandes said once he is re-elected, he will ensure that there will be a Veterans category each year for the Mashramani handicap tournament.
He said the current format of the tournament enables juniors to play against seniors which is a great idea, but the association has to get the veterans involved.
He noted that over the past few years, a lot of junior players have graduated to schools and colleges overseas.
Asked what he has been able to accomplish over the past year, Fernandes said the national men’s team won the Caribbean team title, something they did not do for a number of years. Added to that he said, Guyana won the Caribbean women’s title for the first time.
Those feats, along with the renovation to the courts at the Georgetown Club and with the construction of a Racquet Centre at Woolford Avenue, are attributes of Fernandes’ leadership.
Fernandes, a former national junior and senior hockey player expressed his and the Guyana Squash Association’s gratitude to the government of Guyana for construction the Racquet Centre and boasted that Guyana is one of few Caribbean countries that boast five glass back courts.
He also used the opportunity to thank Banks DIH Limited, Ansa McAl, Digicel and Toucan Industries for supporting squash over the years and expressed the hope that they will continue to support the sport.
”We want to do things to uplift the sport but we cannot do it without the help of corporate Guyana,” Fernandes lamented.
Asked what is on the board for the remainder of the year, Fernandes disclosed that the Toucan Industries Skills tournament is next on the agenda and is set for a March 11 start then a team will represent Guyana at the Junior Caribbean Championships in Bermuda in July, another team will represent Guyana at the Senior Caribbean Championships in Barbados during the month of August and junior and senior men’s and women’s players plan to participate in the Canadian open championships in December.
Fernandes said this year he plans to establish a data base for the players.