Guyana’s Jason Ray Khalil failed to advance further and all the other local players exited the singles competition on Sunday’s day one of the Pan American Squash Qualifiers being played in Cartagena, Colombia.
Khalil bowed out gently in his clash against Diego Elias of Peru, the world’s number one and the tournament’s top seed 3-11, 0-11, 3-11 in their round of 32 match-up.
Nicolette Fernandes, the reigning World Masters Over-35 champion and six times Caribbean champion was also on the losing end in her fixture against Gishelle Delgado of Chile going down in five sets after holding a two-set advantage early in the match. She lost 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 6-11 and 5-11 in a grueling showdown.
It was also a tough day for the other two Guyanese women Caribbean women’s champion Ashley Khalil and Taylor Fernandes who both lost to their opponents.
Ashley Khalil went down to Martina Stefanoni of the United States of America 6-11,5-11,2-11 while Taylor Fernandes fell to Canadian Nikki Todd also in three straight sets 5-11, 8-11 and 6-11. The other two players for Guyana on show also lost with Alex Arjoon losing in three straight sets against Rafael Galvez of Peru 4-11, 6-12, 7-11 while his teammate Samuel Ince-Carvalhal suffered defeat against Rafael Torrez of Bolivia in three sets 6-11, 10-12 and 11-13. The Guyanese will be in action again on Friday in the round of 16 doubles matches with Taylor Fernandes and Ashley Khalil teaming up to play Natalia Arancibia and Vanessa Rios of Bolivia in the women’s doubles. Arjoon and Ince-Carvalhal will oppose Khamal Cumberbatch and Shawn Simpson of Barbados in the men’s doubles while Nicolette Fernandes and Jason Ray Khalil will clash with Barbadians Darien Benn and Amande Haywood in the mixed doubles. The tournament will end Saturday with the doubles finals in all three categories.
The Pan American qualifiers are being run off to identify contenders for the Pan American Games billed for October 20- November 5 in Santiago, Chile.
US-based former player and coach Ramon Chan-a-Sue is serving as Manager/Coach.
