GUYANA will host this year’s Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) tournament, following a disclosure by the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) president David Fernandes.
According to the Veteran player, “We will be hosting the Junior CASA in July so our players will start training early. They will be determined to surprise everyone again and try to win their 13th title.”

Having ruled the roost on the regional junior scene, the locals will now have the major factor of home court advantage when they take on the likes of last year’s favourites Barbados, as well as Trinidad and other Caribbean countries.
Nonetheless, the GSA president has put faith in his charges to defend their title and more so on home soil, reminding that hard work is what is needed if the team is to be successful again.

Another major plan of the body in 2017 is the Senior CASA which, according to Fernandes, will be held in St Vincent and the Grenadines while the hosting of more local tournaments remains a major mandate on the body’s development plan.
He noted that one issue so far is the number of facilities available locally, saying, “This is an area that we will be working on and we will work with clubs to have their courts refurbished. We have had some success in this venture with the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC); hopefully we can get the others repaired.”

“Currently the National Racquet Centre is being renovated and I want to thank the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Ministry of Sport who have been doing the renovations to the building,” he said.
The GSA boss explained, “Once we have more facilities available, we will be able to spread the game to more people. Even if it is to inspire casual enthusiasts, it is spreading the game and that is the idea of any sport.” motivate
Speaking on the outlook of the recently completed year for squash, Fernandes added, “Some of the highlights were the National Junior Team winning the 12th consecutive Overall Title; the team was by all accounts not expected to win.”

He dubbed it another excellent year for that unit while the senior team recovered from early blows to finish strong.
“2016’s biggest incident and it was a sad one, was in the Senior CASA when Sunil Seth got severely injured in his (Men’s Open semi-final) match with Chris Binnie. The match was tied 2-2 before Seth was forced to retire hurt,” he recalled as a sore point.
“Binnie eventually won the tournament for the second consecutive year. Seth’s injury affected the team but the other players stepped up and we finished third (team section). The Women finished second and the Veterans team finished fourth.”