Nicholas Narain completed the upset of the tournament by dispatching one of the country’s premier junior players Nyron Joseph on night four of the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap tournament Friday night at the Georgetown Club’s squash facility.
Two-time Caribbean junior champion Joseph was favoured to win the encounter even though he possessed a -10 handicap while Narain competed with a -3 disadvantage. Joseph, who is just 16-years-old, showed his tremendous fortitude in the first game winning the first 11 points of the game.
Joseph even managed to take a commanding 8/5 lead in the first game before Narain began to work his way back in the game. Instead of going for risky winners like Joseph, Narain played conservative, disciplined squash. Narain held his composure to steal the momentum and complete a stunning 15/10 win in the first game.
In the second game, Joseph quickly came out of the negative numbers and tied the game at 1/1 before Narain stepped up his game again. With victory in sight Narain remained focussed and held his composure once again while Joseph went for the big winners. Joseph’s inconsistency in the second game caused him to surrender that game and a spot in the semi-finals to Narain.
Narain was down to take on Steven Xavier in last night’s semi-final encounter.
Fourteen-year-old Benjamin Meckdeci held his cool to overcome two-time junior Caribbean champion Ashley Khalil. Khalil was handicapped at -5 while Meckdeci started at zero; an advantage which he utilized efficiently to win the first game (15/9). Khalil brought some fight in the second game to close the deficit early and equalize the match with a 15/12 win but was unable to replicate that performance in the final game and after Meckdeci took an early lead. He never looked back. Meckdeci will play Jason Ray Khalil in the other semi-final.
Khalil, the 2011 Junior Caribbean champion, eased to victory against Ashley deGroot who had defeated her older brother to advance to Friday night’s quarter finals. Khalil’s (-20) handicap was twice that of Raphael deGroot, but deGroot had no answer for the superior skills of Khalil. The former sportsman of the year runner up was a good sportsman, engaging deGroot in long rallies before he ended the match in straight games. The tournament is sponsored by Bounty Farm Limited and organised by the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) in conjunction with its number one corporate partner Digicel. The finals will be staged today from 11am.
Friday’s results
Main Draw
Jason Ray Khalil (-20) defeated Ashley degroot (0)
[15/10, 15/11]
Benjamin Mekdeci (0) defeated Ashley Khalil (-5)
[15/9, 12/15, 15/3]
Nicholas Narain (-2) defeated Nyron Joseph (-10)
[15/10, 16/14]
Plate
Lydia Fraser (+11) defeated Dwayne Yan (+10)
[16/14, 15/10]
Alec Melville (+6) defeated Kiev Chesney (+12)
[16/14, 12/15]
Pablio Mundini (+7) defeated Medhi Ramdhani (+5)
[15/9, 12/15, 15/6]
Avinash Odit (+7)defeated Mahendra Khusial (+12)
[16/14, 16/14]
Category A
Dominic Collins (+10) defeated Makeda Hardin (+8)
[15/13, 14/16, 14/16]
