Joseph, Yang, Callender, Yong and Thomas advance to second round

ANTONIO Joseph, Haopei Yang, Alwyn Callender, Brian Yong and Timothy Thomas all advanced to the second round in their respective categories of the Guyana Squash Association’s (GSA) 2014 National Championships, currently under way at the Georgetown Club, Camp Street.In the Men’s Open category, Joseph defeated Dustani Barrow 11-9, 3-11, 11-8, 11-9 and Haopel Yang got the better of Jamaal Douglas 11-7, 11-6, 11-1.
In the Veterans Over-50, Callender beat Mike Atherly 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 and Robin Low 11-4, 11-2, 11-5.
The Veterans 35-49 years old category saw Brian Yong defeat Jerry Mekdeci 11-8, 11-4, 11-5 and Timothy Jonas beat David Fernandes 11-8, 11-6.
Matches continued last evening in the Men’s and Women’s Open and Veterans Over-50 categories where Alyssa Xavier was down to face Tiffany Solomon and Sarah Lewis was pitted against Larisse Wiltshire in the two women’s matches.
In the Men’s category, Oliver Kear-Downes was down to confront Nicholas Narain, Ben Mekdeci to meet Josh Abdool, A. Joseph to compete with Jason Ray Khalil, Regan Pollard to oppose Alec Melville, Ian Mekdeci to challenge Nyron Jopseph and Robert Hiscock to clash with Deje Dias.
Meanwhile, defending champion Alex Arjoon will be fully tested with the inclusion in the draw of overseas-based former Caribbean champion Richard Chin and locals Jason Ray Khalil, Pollard, Joseph and Ben Mekdeci.
On the distaff side, Caribbean champion Nicolette Fernandes is unable to defend her crown, so Mary Fung-A-Fat is tipped to capture her first senior national title.
She will, however, have keen competition from Ashley De Groot, Victoria Arjoon, Akeila Wiltshire and Kathy Shuffler.
Callender is the number one contender for the Veterans Men’s Over-50 and Jo Jo Mekdeci is the number one seed for the Men’s 35-49 category.