… Wiltshires, Fernandes, and Gomes into finals

BOYS’ Under-13 defending champion Shomari Wiltshire, and Girls’ Under-19 players, Taylor Fernandes and Larissa Wiltshire, were on the list of Guyanese who made it into the finals, when the semi-finals of the ongoing Caribbean Junior Squash Championships played out last Sunday at the South Sound Squash Club in the Cayman Islands.Also making it into the Girls’ Under-13 final was Kirsten Gomes, who defeated compatriot Abosaide Cadogan in a four-set matchup, ending 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6.
Gomes set up a re-match against the defending champion Sumairaa Suleman. Gomes lost to Suleman last year in the category’s quarterfinals after Gomes went under 0-3.
Suleman made her way into yet another final at the Championships after taking down Guyana’s Madison Fernandes 11-6, 11-3, 11-4, in Sunday’s semi-finals.
The top-seeded Wiltshire cleared his path in the Boys’ Under-13 finals after an easy 3-0 victory against Bermuda’s Matthew Elliott. Wiltshire was set to take on Barbados’ Darien Benn, in the final, to see if he could retain his title.
In the Girls’ Under-19 category, Guyana are guaranteed a title, with the final set to be an all-Guyanese affair. Larissa took on reigning national champion Fernandes last night for the Caribbean title.
Fernandes had earlier this year proved that she was more than Wiltshire could handle when the two battled it out for the national title in May. It remains to be seen if Larissa improved her game enough to overpower Fernandes this time around.
Meanwhile, Guyana had a good opening day of competition on Saturday where a number on players bagged wins before bowing out.
Boys’ Under-19 national champion Benjamin Mekdeci reached the quarter-finals after crushing Jamaica’s Tahjia Lumley 3-0, before being blanked 0-3 by OECS Jason Doyle.
Rithew Saywack recorded wins against Dylan Pratt and Nicholas Caddle before making it into the Boys’ Under-17 semi-finals but lost to Barbados’ Shemane Griffith. Alex Cheeks also won in the Boys’ Under-17 when he ousted Jamaica’s Karan Dhiman.
In the Boys’ Under-15 Daniel and Anthony Islam won against Kemar Lord and Kyle Haddad respectively, in the preliminary rounds. Daniel continued his winning streak all the way to the semifinals where he was cut down by OECS Kai Bentick.
National Girls’ Under-15 champion Makeda Harding registered wins against Cayman Island’s Skylar Smith and Jamaica’s Mia Mahfood, while Paige Fernandes, participating in both the Girls’ Under-13 and the inaugural Under-11 categories, prevailed against Barbados Rebekah Nichols and Cayman Island’s Jade Barnard.
Madison Fernandes also triumphed over Nichols, in the Girls’ Under-13, where the competition was being played in a round-robin format.