Having captured an unparalleled 15 titles at the Caribbean Area Squash Associations (CASA) Junior Championships the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) has placed their trust in a 13-member squad to make it 16 overall and third consecutive title this year.
The squad started its preparation for this tournament earlier than usual this year and after five months of intense preparation the chosen 13 departed on Monday and Tuesday en-route to Bermuda for the tournament which begins tomorrow.
Following are profiles of the GSA’s junior squad and coach.
Carl Ince (Coach) – Carl’s tireless dedication and commitment to the junior players continues to be the main reason for the team’s continuous success over the 11 years that he has been GSA’s national coach. He has once again developed a formidable team which is very capable of improving on last year’s outstanding achievements.
Victoria Arjoon (under 13) – Victoria completely dominated this category last year on her way to winning her first of what is expected to be numerous Caribbean titles. She has had a tough year with her academic commitments taking priority, but she is expected to be at her optimum for these championships.
Nyron Joseph (under 13) – Nyron scrapped, scraped and dived his way to a thoroughly entertaining fifth place finish last year. He has not trained as he would have liked because of academic commitments this year, but by the time he gets to Bermuda he should be ready for the rest of the Caribbean.
Jean-Claude Jeffrey (under 13) – Jean-Claude was the surprise of this year’s national championships. He upset Nyron in both the under -13 and 15 categories and now comes to this tournament as the GSA’s number-one under-13 player. He has worked extremely hard on his game over the past year and should surprise everyone as he has emerged as one of the favourites for the under-13 title.
Ashley deGroot (under 15) – Although she is a newcomer to the team, Ashley has been around squash for a long, long time. She is the third deGroot to represent Guyana at this level, following in the footsteps of older brothers Peter Michael and Raphael. She is looking forward to the experience of playing in her first Junior CASA championships and may even surprise a few players in the under-15 category.
Abhishek Singh (under 15)-Abhishek was last year’s under-13 champion pulling off a surprise upset win over Nku Patrick of Trinidad and Nyron Joseph. He fell to Nku in the team event but has grown much in the past year.
Mary Fung-A-Fat (under 15) – A former under-13 champion at this level, Mary had a tough tournament in 2007 but still managed to finish fourth in the under-15 category. She has improved tremendously over the past year, and now possesses the game that is already giving the older girls a lot to think about.
Incidentally, the three competitors who placed ahead of her last year have all moved up to the U-17 category. Her mental toughness and complete all-round game should make her the favourite to claim her second Caribbean title.
Alysa Xavier (under 17) – This young lady has amazing athletic ability, she is the current senior national ladies’ hockey goalkeeper. She is the captain of the Queen’s College female cricket team and can embarrass even the best of our boys on a football field. The experience gained at last year’s championships has done wonders for her game and she is hoping to improve on that performance this time around.
Kayla Jeffrey (under 17) – Kayla is the little power house of the team, she is physically the strongest player on this, very fit girls team. She hits the ball with express pace and makes it difficult for her opponents to finish a point with her exceptional retrieving ability. She is a very important part of this girls team and of future plans.
Keisha Jeffrey (under 17) – Keisha has already written her name into the history books by becoming our youngest ever national ladies champion when she won the senior national championship last year at the tender age of fourteen. She is also a former two- time Caribbean champion and lost a close under -15 final last year to fellow Guyanese Ashley Khalil.
Although she has been plagued by a nagging knee problem for over a year she still possesses the game and the mentality to return to the top of her age group. With Khalil absent from this year’s tournament she could be on her way to her third Caribbean title in four years.
Deje Dias (under 17) – Deje is another of our players whose preparation for this tournament was hampered by academic commitments. He was inspirational in helping the boys team to a second place finish last year, after their captain Kristian Jeffrey was injured and unable to participate in the team competition. His never-say-die attitude and phenomenal retrieving skills will make him a player to watch in the under-17 category.
Alexander Arjoon (under 17) – Having dominated the under-15 category for the past two years, Alex is hoping to continue his success in the under-17 category at this tournament. He is a complete player with a good head on his shoulders. He should be very difficult to beat in this category.
Oliver Kear-Downes (under 17) – Although he wrote his CXC exams this year Downes still managed to play some exceptional squash. He is probably the only player in this category to have defeated Alex Arjoon on more than one occasion. His consistency, stamina and, new found, mental toughness may be just what is required for him to go all the way this year, after placing third at last year’s tournament.
Daina King (under 19) – The ‘Old head’ of this vastly experienced girls team, Daina should once again be a force to be reckoned with in her age category. More importantly she will be hoping to lead this exceptionally talented girls’ team to their fifth team title in seven years.
Raphael deGroot (under 19) – Raphael probably had his best ever tournament at our national championships this year, where he upset both Alex Arjoon and Kear-Downes on his way to claiming second place in the under-19 division. He hopes to take that momentum into this tournament and make a strong challenge for the title.
