The penultimate squash tournament for 2018, the Lucozade Handicap Squash tournament, concluded on Sunday at the Georgetown Club courts with Nyron Joseph retaining the Open category title and Nicholas Verwey winning his first major title with his victory in the Category ‘A’ final.
The top performers of the 2018 ANSA McAL Lucozade Squash Tournament display their hardware
In the Open category, Nyron Joseph (-22) was matched against Deje Dias (-8). Nyron defeated Steven Xavier (-6) in two straight games, but Deje had to go the full distance in his match against Regan Pollard (-12) in the semis.
In the final, the handicap was 14 points, which meant that for Nyron to be victorious he had to win two points to every one point that Deje won.
The match started at a furious pace, with both players attacking the ball and Deje really holding his own. With the score reading 7-7, the difference was still fourteen points, and Deje was only eight points away from winning the first game.
However, the fast paced game started to take its toll on Deje. With Deje leading 12 – 6, Nyron won the next six points to even the score at 12-12. After that, both players won two points to set up sudden death at 14-14. Deje went for a winner, but hit the ball into the tin, to give Nyron the first game 15-14.
After the loss of the first game, it was always going to be difficult for Deje to win the match, as he had exerted a tremendous amount of energy in that game. Nyron won the first six points in the second game, and eventually evened the game at six all. He then closed out the match 15-10 to retain the Open title crown.
In Category ‘A’, Nicholas Verwey (-1) contested his first major final when he came up against Kirsten Gomes (-2). The semis saw Nicholas upset Abosaide Cadogan (-4) and Kirsten trounce Mohyryan Baksh (2).
In the first game, Nicholas seemed to be in control, and even though the game went back and forth, Nicholas eventually closed out the game 15-13.
In the second game, Kirsten came out with renewed energy, and attempted to volley every ball to put added pressure on Nicholas. This early taking of the ball paid dividends, as she was able to win the game 15-11.
In the third game, the eventual victor jumped out to an early 12-6 lead, but when it seemed as if he would win easily, Gomes clawed her way back to within one point at 11-12.
That was as close as she would get, as Nicholas won the game 15-12 and claimed his first major Squash title.
In the Open category, plate final Josh Abdool (4) easily disposed of Ian Mekdeci (5), winning 15-3, 15-9. In the Category ‘A’ plate final, Zachary Persaud (7) also claimed a straight set victory over Kamir Khan (8), securing the win 15-7, 15-14.
