Caribbean U-15 squash champion Alex Arjoon showed no mercy when he came up against his father Andrew Arjoon Thursday night in the quarterfinal of the Open category of the Bounty Farm Mash Handicap Squash Tournament held at the Georgetown Club.
Fifteen-year-old Arjoon, who has the most severe handicap of any player remaining in the tournament (-25), put all family ties aside and forced a speedy two-game demise of his father Andrew Arjoon 15/11 15/13.
Actually Alex won 80 points, that is, ten times more than his father won to ensure that his senior had an early exit from the tournament.
In the first game Alex’s strategy was clear – he would take advantage of his father’s immobility, hitting shots at a variety of spots on the court to dismiss any thoughts his father may have had about retrieving them.
This worked perfectly and Alex staged some remarkable runs to close out his father, scoring 27 consecutive winners at one point of the first game.
After the game Alex told Stabroek Sport that the tournament has been very competitive and he thought it was truly an honour to play his father.
“Well my father is probably the reason for me being so driven to play the game so although I may have won, it was an honour to go against him and I know that he understands that it is just a tournament,” he said modestly.
In one of the other exciting games of the evening, the superb skills and superior tactics of Keisha Jeffery were exhibited against Javier Grau in an interesting contest of the equally ranked players (+10).
As they were equally ranked they both agreed to start a love all.
Keisha dominated from the get go, hitting splendid shots that were somewhat reminiscent of her 2007 title run in the National Squash Championships, to comfortably dispatch the older competitor.
The semifinal round of the tournament will feature Brian Yong and Lloyd Fung-A-Fat who advanced by overcoming worthy competitors in Nicholas Narain and Ashley Khalil respectively. In Category A junior nationals Victoria Arjoon and Nyron Joseph will do battle in the first semifinal while Jason Van Dyk awaits the winner of tonight’s delayed quarterfinal match between Mary Fung-A-Fat and Ashley DeGroot.
Results from Thursday’s games are as follows:
Open Category
Daina King (+10) defeated Allan Downes (+8) 17/16
11/15 15/12
Alexander Arjoon (-25) defeated Andrew Arjoon (+8)
15/11 15/13
Brian Yong (+8) defetead Nicholas Narain (+8) 11/15
15/11 17/14
Lloyd Fung-A-Fat (+8) defeated Ashley Khalil (+10)
17/15 15/12
Category A
Victoria Arjoon (-10) defeated Brandon Bento (+4) 15/9
10/15 15/11
Nyron Joseph (-5) defeated Jean-Claude Jeffrey (-5) 15/14
15/9
Open Category Plate
Abhishek Singh (+12) defeated Juan Carlos Lazo (+10)
11/15 15/10 15/13
Keisha Jeffrey (+10) defeated Javier Grau (+10) 15/6
15/12
Joshua Abdool (+6) defeated Kayla Jeffrey (+10) 15/13
11/15 17/16
Jerozeno Bell (-15) defeated Alex Gouveia (+6) 15/9 -1/15
15/7
