ACCORDING to an article published by the World Squad Federation (WSF), the organization is very impressed with Guyana’s highly talented junior unit and believes that during the next decade, the nation can be elevated to the forefront of the sport.

At the head of that junior category are the likes of Shomari Wiltshire, Michael Alphonso, Abosaide Cadogan and Kristen Gomes, who all won their respective categories at the 2019 Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Games.

What was commendable was Wiltshire’s U-17 category victory which saw him drop only a single game in the tournament. He has captured every junior title since the U-11 category and has also had an outstanding stint outside of the Caribbean.

The WSF opined that the driving force behind the progression of these top junior players is the National Coach, Carl Ince. Ince, who has been a part of the Guyana squash unit for quite some time, is a Level 4 Elite England Squash Certified Coach.

In the article titled ‘State of Squash – Guyana’, Secretary of the Guyana Squash Association, Lorraine Ince-Carvalhal, describes his contribution to the GSA as “immeasurable’’.

WSF also stated that the nation’s senior team is also very strong, with both the men’s and women’s side taking clean sweeps at the CASA 2019 event.

Unfortunately, the impact of the COVID-19 has put a peg in the continual progression of the Sport, like many others. In May of 2020, CASA announced the cancellation of their Caribbean Championship and thus forced the cancellation of all Squash events in the Caribbean Area.

Guyana was only able to host the BCQS International Masters and the annual Bounty Farm Handicap tournaments before the pandemic arose.

The notice on the CASA website read: “The utmost priority of the Caribbean Area Squash Association is the health and well-being of all athletes, officials, coaches, and parents, or otherwise known as the “CASA Family”.

As a result, the Caribbean Area Squash Association Executive has made the following decisions with the best interest of our family, as it relates to the Junior CASA 2020 (Bermuda) and Senior CASA 2020 (Jamaica) due to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) on the CASA Region.”

This included: “The postponement of the XXXX Junior Caribbean Squash Individual and

Team Championships scheduled for 19 – 25 July 2020 in Hamilton, Bermuda, until 2021. The postponement of the XXVI Senior Caribbean Squash Individual and Team Championships, scheduled for 15 – 23 August 2020 in Kingston, Jamaica, until 2021.”

“Doubles will be introduced at the 2021 Junior Championships as was intended for the 2020 Championships and age groups will remain the same as proposed at the 2019 Annual General Meeting.”

Meanwhile, the GSA, headed by David Fernandes, has progressed quite successfully and they are currently trying to integrate squash with the WSF pandemic guidelines which has proven to be challenging, but very achievable.