Bentick retains Caribbean Squash title

The XXII Senior Caribbean Area Squash Championships 2014 concluded in Barbados on August 24. The OECS team started their bid for honors when the tournament kicked off on August 16th. Representing the OECS team was, defending 40+ Caribbean champion James Bentick,{{more}} Jules Snagg, Kevin Bailey, Kevin Hannaway, Jason Doyle, Romario Constance and Greta Primus. Dion Ansell and Winston Finley represented from the BVI.

In the men’s individual competition, Jules Snagg, SVG’s number one player received a bye in the first round, then went on to defeat Robert Mac David of Guyana 11-3 11-9 8-11 11-8, and then went on to lose to the Barbadian number one, Shawn Simpson 8-11 12-10 7-11 9-11 in the round of 16. In the team event, Snagg got his revenge on Simpson by defeating him 3-1 in an intriguing game of tactical squash. With that win over the Barbadian number one, Snagg eventually placed 11th in the Caribbean seeding; the highest Snagg has achieved in these championships.

Kevin Bailey opened his tournament by defeating Julian Morris of Jamaica 14-12 11-6 11-4 in a comfortable win, and then went onto to lose to Sunil Seth the Caribbean number two from Guyana, 11-7 11-9 11-7 in a 50 minute slugfest. Bailey eventually placed 15th in the overall Caribbean rankings.

Kevin Hannaway’s opening match saw him competing against Stewart St John of Barbados. Hannaway powered his way through the young Barbadian 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 in a swift 20 minutes. Hannaway eventually went onto lose to the Guyanese number 3 Alex Arjoon 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 in a hotly contested battle.

Jason Doyle in his opening match met Zaki Williams from Barbados and fought a tough 5 set match to come out on top 7-11, 11-9, 11-13, 8-11, 11-4. Doyle lost his next round match to the eventual Caribbean champion from Jamaica, Chris Binnie, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2. Doyle then moved onto the consolation round where he defeated Leon Truss from Barbados 11-5, 12-14, 11-9, and 11-8. In a head to head in the following round, Doyle met fellow team-mate Romario Constance, Doyle was the eventual winner in straight sets, 13-11, 11-9, and 12-10. With that victory, Doyle then went onto lose to Chayse McQuan of Trinidad in four sets, 3-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-6.

Romario Constance in his first Senior Caribbean Championships won his first round match against Jasun Sairsingh of the Cayman Islands 11-2, 12-10, 11-4. In Constance’s second round match, he Succumbed to the smooth skills of Kale Wilson from Trinidad 11-7, 11-9 11-8. In the consolation round, Constance defeated Isaiah Robinson from the Cayman Islands 11-4 11-2 11-8 and then went onto defeat Brendon Mounter from Guyana 11-8, 12-10, -11-13, 4-11, 11-7.

In the vet’s category, SVG’s Greta Primus took third spot in her first appearance for the OECS in many years. Primus defeated Diane Julien of Trinidad 11-8, 11-5, 11-4. Primus subsequently lost matches to Janet Sairsingh of the Cayman Islands and Kristina Evelyn from Barbados who was the eventual Caribbean 40+ ladies champion.

James Bentick, the defending 40+ Caribbean champion kicked of his defense in fine style by defeating Ken Moore from the Cayman Island in a comfortable 3-0 victory, 11-4, 11-7 11-5. In Bentick’s second round match, he faced fierce competitor Roman Chan-A-sue of Guyana. Bentick had to dig deep as the Guyanese had intentions of displacing the former 11 times SVG national Champion and SVG 40 and OECS 40 champion from his throne. Bentick was resilient to the pressure from a formidable opponent in Chan-A-Sue, with Bentick coming through as eventual winner in 52 minutes 3-2. In Bentick’s 3rd round match, he faced Peter Pirteesingh of Trinidad dismissing him 11-5, 11-6, 11-8. Bentick, with his sights firmly on the final, would meet long time rival, Andy Gill of Barbados. Bentick with serious intent, made no bones about taking out the Barbadian Gill in convincing style 3-0, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 to retain his Caribbean title.

In the men’s team event, OECS placed 4th, with a thrilling play off against host nation Barbados. In a head to head battle, going into a two-all draw, it was down to the number two seeds in Kevin Bailey and Barbadian Gavin Cumberbatch to find out who would lead their country to the third spot podium finish.

Cumberbatch rocketed out of the blocks leaving the fit Bailey a little bemused as to how to deal with the constant barrage of shots. Eventually, Bailey went down to Cumberbatch 3-0 leaving the OECS team placing 4th. As a young up and coming team, this was a great result and they are looking promising for the future.

The men’s team are now preparing to compete in the Pan-American Festival taking part in Mexico from September 3 – 12, 2014. The participants for this event are James Bentick (coach player) who will also take part in an intense squash coaching course while in Mexico, Jules Snagg, Kevin Bailey, Kevin Hannaway and Jason Doyle.

In the final standings at the close of the event, Jules Snagg placed 11th, Kevin Bailey placed 15th and Kevin Hannaway placed 16th.

In the vet’s category, James Bentick retained his Caribbean title, while Greta Primus placed 3rd in the women’s 40+ and Winston Finley from BVI placing 3rd in the mens 60+ categories.