Khalil clinches silver in PanAm Masters Championships

On the heels of a National Championship win last weekend, squash ace Ashley Khalil had to settle for a silver medal at the PanAm Masters Championships in Medellín, Colombia on Sunday.
Khalil had a strong start to the tournament, winning each of her encounters in the preliminary rounds to assert herself as a gold-medal contender.
In round one, Khalil overcame USA’s Nathalie Champlain 3-0 (11-8, 11-1, 11-7). She then moved on to dispatch Chile’s Natalia Diaz in Round 2, 3-0 (11-4, 11-1, 11-1).
The Guyanese National Champion continued her superb run of form with another convincing victory, this time over Grace Birmingham of the USA, 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-1), thus booking her spot in the semi-finals.
There, the Guyanese met with Colombia’s Karina Salto on her home turf, going on to upset to local player. Khalil breezed past Salto 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-1) to set up a date with the tournament’s top-seeded player in the final.
Taking on Chile’s Anita Pinto in the final on Sunday, the Guyanese player secured a win in the first set 11-5, but Pinto roared back taking the next three sets for a 1-3 victory (9-11, 5-11, 7-11).
Khalil has been in an excellent run of form with the racquet in hand, across sports, having secured the Enet National Senior Women’s Squash title last week and prior to that, securing the Guyana Badminton Association’s Women’s Singles Independence title.