National Squash Championships a Success

At the close of the 2005 National Squash Championships played from April 25-30, all the individual titles were successfully defended, except in one instance. The event, at the new National Squash Centre, saw players competing in the Boys and Girls Under 19, Men’s and Women’s Open, Men’s and Women’s 40+ and Men’s 50+ categories. The tournament (which was not staged last year), was a successful one, featuring full online coverage for the first time at: www.svgsquash.com/nationals

In the Junior division, Shane Slater and Amber Glasgow successfully defended their 2003 titles in the Boys’ and Girls’ Under 19 categories respectively. {{more}}Slater claimed the title with straight-game victories over Ian Sheridan and Kevin Bailey respectively, before dropping a game in a 8/9, 9/0, 9/4, 9/0 final against 2nd-seeded Diarra Venner. In the Girls Under 19, Glasgow came out on top with victories over Lisa Deane, Sherina Slater and Aiko Roudette.

In the Veterans division, Colin Alexander, Sherian Slater and Keith Boyea were crowned champions in the Men’s 40+, Women’s 40+ and Men’s 50+ categories respectively. Alexander made his way to the final with victories over Steve Ollivierre and 4th-seeded Raphie King 9/0, 10/8, 9/0 and 7/9, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3 respectively. In the final however, he was awarded a walkover against an injured Leroy Edwards. The Women’s 40+ featured some of the top women players, with Sherian Slater defeating Erica McIntosh, Vonnie Roudette and Rachel Haslam in straight games for the title. The Men’s 50+ saw Keith Boyea topping the Round Robin table over Leroy Lewis (2nd), John Horne (3rd), Dave Dasilva (4th) and Rudi Daniel (5th).

In the Premier divisions, James Bentick cruised to the Men’s Open title while Rachel Haslam upset Sherian Slater for the Women’s Open title. In the Men’s Open, Bentick dominated the competition, including his final opponent – Paul Cyrus, winning 9/2, 9/1, 9/0. Meanwhile, 16-year old Shane Slater defeated Roy Defreitas 9/6, 9/5, 10/8 for 3rd place. Both players had caused earlier upsets in the quarter-finals, over the no. 3 seed Colin Alexander and no. 4 seed Stephen Joachim respectively. Defreitas couldn’t stop Bentick in the semi-finals, losing 1/9, 5/9, 0/9, while Cyrus used all his experience to eventually triumph 5/9, 9/7, 9/2, 9/3 over Slater. In a repeat of the Women’s 40+ final, top seeds Sherian Slater and Rachel Haslam faced off for the title of Women’s Open Champion. After a 4/9, 3/9, 5/9 loss in the Women’s 40+ match, Haslam was determined to put up a stronger fight, which took the game to the maximum 5 games. With the score at 8-8, both players fought hard before Haslam clinched the game 10/8, for an upset win over her rival. A team is now being selected to compete in the upcoming OECS Squash Championships to be held here from May 12-15.