National players Akeila and Shomari Wiltshire won their respective categories while Larissa Wiltshire placed third in category A as the Wiltshire family stamped its dominance on the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) Farfan and Mendes Junior Christmas Tournament which ended yesterday at the Georgetown Club Ltd. Squash courts.
The tournament, held by the GSA in collaboration with its number one corporate sponsor Digicel, saw
several of the country’s top junior players in action on yesterday’s the final day with the Akeila Wiltshire and Alec Melville clash in the A Class final a treat.
Heading into yesterday’s grand finale both players were unbeaten and it took a five-game thriller before Akeila Wiltshire emerged the deserving winner.
The much-improved Melville drew first blood by taking the opening set 11 – 9 and up 9 – 5 in the second, a straight sets victory seemed inevitable.
But the gutsy Wiltshire was not about to give up without a fight and clawed her way back from 8-10 Winning the next four points for a remarkable 12-10 victory.
Back on level terms Wiltshire proceeded to go 2-1 up with an 11 – 7 victory and was all set to close out the match at 10-7 in the fourth.
However, it was Melville’s turn to play Houdini and he too managed to escape from the jaws of defeat by winning the next five points to take the set 12-10 and set up the deciding fifth game.
The final game was all Akeila; she won the first six points and staved off Melville’s comeback attempt for an 11-6 triumph.
In the third place play-off Larissa Wiltshire and Taylor Fernandes continued their long lasting rivalry with Wiltshire winning yesterday’s encounter in straight games 11 – 5, 12 – 10, 11 – 5.
The Group B final was also contested between two previously unbeaten players Shomari Wiltshire and Matthew Phang and like the Group A final went the full distance of five games.
Shomari won the first game 11 – 8. Phang led for most of the second game and had game balls at 10 -9 and 11 – 10 but Shomari kept his nerve and won the second game 13 – 11. Phang again took the lead in the third game which he won 11 – 7. In the fourth game Shomari jumped out to a 7 – 1 lead but Phang showed great fighting spirit and clawed his way back winning the next six points to even the score at 7 all before closing out the game 11 – 9.
Phang led 3 – 2 in the final game but Shomari won the next six points to move to 8 – 3 and closed out the tie 11 – 6.
In the third placed play off between Alex Cheeks won the third place play off against Rebecca Low 11 – 9, 11 – 8, 8-11, 11-13, 11 – 7.
In the C class final Jael Gaskin had to work hard to defeat Savannah Mendes 7-11, 11 – 3, 13
– 11 and 11 – 7 while Anthony Islam was third. Islam yesterday defeated Dennis Bagot 11 – 4, 11 – 8, 11 – 7. In the match- up between the two top Under 13 girls who were placed in this category Makeda Harding defeated Maya Collins 11 – 6, 11 – 8 and 11 – 6.
Gianni Carpenter remained unbeaten in the D Class with a straight set win 11 – 2, 11 – 4, 11 – 9 win over Dominic Collins while Jonathan Edwards defeated Demetrius De Abreu 11 – 4, 11 – 7, 11 – 9.
In category E, Rajiv Lee defeated Madison Fernandes 11 – 3, 11 – 3 to remain unbeaten while Daniel Lowe secured a walkover from Jamila Da Silva.
In category F, Nechemiyah Levans proved to be much too strong for all of his opponents defeating Tome Reis 11 – 1, 11 – 2 and Rayad Boyce 11 – 0 in the first game before Boyce defaulted.
Kirsten Gomes beat Boyce 11 – 3, 11 – 3 and then defeated Aliyah Persaud 11 – 3, 11- 4 while Paige Fernandes defeated Alexander Persaud 11 – 5, 11 – 6.
The winners in the various categories were as follows.
Category F
Winner: Nechemiyah Levans
Second Place: Kirsten Gomes
Third Place: Rayad Boyce
Fourth Place: Paige Fernandes
Fifth Place: Tome Reis
Category E
Winner: Rajiv Lee
Second Place: Michael Alphonso
Third Place: Madison Fernandes
Fourth Place: Daniel Lowe
Fifth Place: Jamila Da Silva
Category D
Winner: Gianni Carpenter
Second Place: Jonathan Edwards
Third Place: John Phang
Fourth Place: Dominic Collins
Fifth Place: Zachary Persaud
Category C
Winner: Jael Gaskin
Second Place: Michael Ramroop
Third Place: Anthony Islam
Fourth Place: Savannah Mendes
Fifth Place: Dennis Bagot
Category B
Winner: Shomari Wiltshire
Second Place: Matthew Phang
Third Place: Alex Cheeks
Fourth Place: Rebecca Lowe
Category A
Winner: Akeila Wiltshire
Second Place: Alec Melville
Third Place: Larissa Wiltshire
Fourth Place: Taylor Fernandes
Special Awards
Most Promising Boy: Nechemiyah Levans
Most Promising Girl: Kirsten Gomes
Most Improved Boy: Gianni Carpenter
Most Improved Girl: Savannah Mendes
Most Outstanding Boy: Shomari Wiltshire
Most Outstanding Girl: Akeila Wiltshire
The presentation of prizes was done by Mrs. Karen Gomes, a representative of Farfan & Mendes.
