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BARBADOS WINS MEDALS AT
PAN-AMERICAN JUNIOR SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS |
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The Barbados junior squash team has just
returned from the 3rd Pan American Junior Squash Championships (November 9 –
14th ) in Santiago, Chile with two medals, one silver and one bronze, an amazing
achievement by a team that entered this under-18 age group event unseeded.
First in the individual championships, the Barbados boy's under -19 champion,
Rhett Cumberbatch, reached the last sixteen before bowing out to Jose Pablo
Mendez (Guatemala) 1-3, while in the girl's draw the Caribbean under-15
champion, Barbadian Cheri-Ann Parris won the plate final, finishing 9th , while
15 year old Barbadian team mate, Bo Harris, lost in the quarter-finals to the
eventual girl’s champion, Antonella Falcione (Argentina), who did not drop a
single game in the tournament. The outstanding Barbadian player, however, was 17
year old Nadia McCarthy, who defeated the Pan American girl's top seed, Vanessa
Calderon (El Salvador) in three straight games in the first round and eventually
progressed to the semi-finals, where she played the match of her life after
falling 0-2 behind to the young Colombian, Christina Palaez, and recovered to
2-all before fading in the fifth game to lose: 6/9 3/9 9/4 9/1 4/9. Both losing
semi-finalists, McCarthy and Ana Lucia Diaz ( Columbia ) were awarded bronze
medals. This was a proud moment for Barbados as this was the first time an
English speaking Caribbean country had entered these Pan American Junior
Championships, and to snatch an individual medal at the first time of asking was
a tremendous achievement.
But more glory for Barbados was to follow in the team events. The boy's team of
the Cumberbatch brothers, Rhett and Bryant, as well as Alex Garcia and Alex
Jordan (reserve) played well and would have been very pleased with the eventual
fifth place finish behind champions Colombia , Argentina (2nd ), Guatemala (3rd
) and El Salvador (4th ). Barbados defeated Venezuela (2-1), Peru (2-1) and
Chile (3-0) along the way and finished just outside the medal round.
But the Barbados girl's team did even better! Bo Harris, Nadia McCarthy,
Cheri-Ann Parris and Maia Blackman (reserve), who formed the core of the team
that won the Caribbean Junior girl's team title in the Cayman Islands in July
this year, played outstanding squash to defeat hosts Chile (3-0), Peru (3-0),
and El Salvador (2-1). The only losses suffered by Barbados were to the eventual
champions and top seeds, Columbia , who defeated Barbados in an early pool match
2-1 and then again in the girl's final (3-0). At the end of these championships
the Barbados girl's team was awarded a silver medal, with Columbia picking up
the gold and El Salvador and Argentina both being awarded bronze medals.
The Barbados team officials, Monty Cumberbatch (manager) and Richard Walcott
(coach) were delighted with the final standings. Next year's Pan American Junior
Championships will be held in Ecuador and the Barbados Squash Rackets
Association will be working hard to prepare a junior team to attend this event.
Craig Archer
BSRA President
2004-11-17
Information courtesy::
www.squashbarbados.org |
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