… with Caribbean C/ships in mind
LOCAL junior squash players will be seeking to impress the national selectors over the next four days, with the view of being a part of the national team to represent Guyana at the Junior Caribbean Championships which are billed for Barbados in July.

They will be using the Woodpecker Products-sponsored National Junior Championships which served off last evening at the Georgetown Club Courts in their final bid to impress the selectors.

According to Robert Fernandes, the tournament coordinator, this year’s tournament has been severely hit by the amount of top players who are unable to participate because of the CXC examinations.

Former Caribbean champions Alex Arjoon and Ashley Khalil along with national players Deje Dias, Alysa Xavier and Ashley deGroot will have to sit out this year’s tournament in order to concentrate on their exams.

However, the tournament will still feature most of the country’s outstanding players such as last year’s top two Caribbean Under-17 players, the unstoppable Jeffrey twins Keisha and Kayla as well as last year’s Caribbean champions in the Under-13 and Under-15 categories Victoria Arjoon and Mary Fung-A-Fat respectively along with top boys’ team players Oliver Downes, Raphael deGroot, Jason Ray Khalil and Nyron Joseph.

A number of new faces will be vying also for places on the team.

In the girls’ Under-13 category, the Wiltshire sisters Akeila and Larissa will face strong opposition from Rebecca Xavier and Gabrielle Fraser, while in the boys’ Under-15 age group, Steven Xavier and Ryan DaSilva will be looking to impress.

Last year’s Under-11 champion Ben Mekdeci will face strong opposition from the likes of Patrick Fraser, Alexander Cheeks and Alec Melville, while on the girls’ side Taylor Fernandes and Lydia Alphonso will be looking for their first national title.

The tournament starts each evening from 18:00 h at the same venue.

Last year, the locals won three individual titles, as well as all the team titles (boys, girls and overall) at the Caribbean championships and will be hoping to do much better this year.