Vincie team ranked after Southern Caribbean squash

Two Vincentian squash players are now ranked in the Southern Caribbean following the completion of the 19th biennial Southern Caribbean Squash Championships held in Barbados. The event comprised three days each of individual and team competition, featuring players from Guyana, Trinidad, the OECS and the hosts.

In the individual event, Vincentians James Bentick, Paul Cyrus and Shane Slater managed to get past the first round, with Slater defeating Guyana’s Peter Degroot 9-2, 8-10, 9-0, 9-2 and Bentick and Cyrus receiving byes on account of their No. 3 and 8 seedings respectively.{{more}}

Colin Alexander, Roy Defreitas and Amber Glasgow were less fortunate however, losing their 1st round matches in straight games and were later defeated in their plate matches. In the main draw 2nd round, Bentick and Cyrus made quick work of their opponents Joe Chapman (BVI) and Marlon White (Barbados), winning 9-6, 9-3, 9-2 and 9-4, 8-10, 9-5, 9-5 respectively. Slater however succumbed 7-9, 1-9, 5-9 to No.2 seed Robert Fernandes (Guyana). He would then go on to defeat Alex Arjoon (Guyana) in the plate 1st round, before going down to White in the next round.

Meanwhile, Bentick made his way to the semi-finals with a strong 9-7, 9-1, 9-3 win over Kristian Jeffrey (Guyana), before losing 0-9, 6-9, 9-5, 2-9 to eventual champion Gavin Cumberbatch (Barbados). In the 3rd place play-off, Bentick was unable to overcome Trinidadian Josh Pinard, losing 9-4, 2-9, 9-10, 7-9. Cyrus however, lost his quarterfinal matchup with Colin Ramasra (Trinidad) 9-7, 0-9, 0-9, 5-9, before going down to another Trinidadian Ryan Abraham in the Classic Plate. He then finished in 7th place, after recieving a walkover against Robert Fernandes.

In the team event, team OECS began the tournament severely hampered by the last-minute withdrawals of their men’s No. 2 Charlie Sonson and women’s No. 1 Alana Simmons (both of St. Lucia), in addition to men’s Over-50 player Jon Osman of the BVI. In the veterans team event, OECS suffered a 0-3 loss to Barbados, before losing 1-2 to Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, with Sherian Slater picking up wins in the women’s Over-40 position. She eventually finished 2nd in the women’s Over-40 category, equalling her achievement in 2004.

The women’s team suffered against the tough competition, fielding only four out of five players. They went on to lose their three matches 0-5, with only Rachel Haslam managing to extend her Guyanese and Trinidadian opponents to the maximum five games at the No.2 position.

The men’s team fared slightly better, as Bentick and Chapman claimed wins against Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, in 2-3 losses for the OECS team. Against Barbados, the team were crushed 0-5, with only Sonson’s replacement (Roy Defreitas) extending his opponent to five games at the No. 5 position.

In the overall standings, the 4th place finishes of the veterans, men and women left the OECS behind champions Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.