It was a fair start for the T&T's players on the opening day at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships in the British Virgin Islands Sunday, but coaches Ryan Jagessar and Rhea Khan will have some work to do.
From the 10 players that took the court in the morning period, there were five wins and as many losses. Newcomers Jordan Alexander-Smith and Evan Ghuran had a baptism of fire in their opening matches, each succumbing to convincing 3-0 defeats, respectively.
Alexander-Smith, facing Barbados' Savante Padmore in the boys Under-11 division, was brushed aside 11-5, 11-5, 11-2, while Ghuran, the younger brother of two-time regional U-11 champion Gia Ghuran, fought hard but fell to a similar 3-0 loss 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 in the same boys U-11 division.
However, two other newcomers for T&T Saanvi Chattergoon and her brother Vithala Chattergoon had maiden wins against Guyana's Alexis Arjoon in the girls U-11 and St Vincent and the Grenadines' Ethan Webster in the boys U-13.
Chattergoon won the first set 11-3 for a 1-0 advantage before the Guyanese stormed back to level the scores at one apiece, winning 13-11. Later though, Chattergoon restored the one-game advantage with an 11-9 triumph in the third set for a 3-1 lead, and she later sealed the win in the fourth set by prevailing 11-7.
Chattergoon's brother wasted little time in disposing of Webster 11-5, 11-9, 11-9 for a perfect start to the main draw.
Meanwhile, Aaniyah Ramdeen also carved out a victory in her contest with Ella Griffith of Barbados in the girls' U-11 division. After an 11-5 triumph in the first set, the T&T ace ensured there were no comebacks by beating her counterpart 11-0, 11-5 for a convincing 3-0 victory to get her campaign off to a perfect start as well.
However, there was not much luck for Coen Mack in the boys' U-13, facing James Bigley of Bermuda. Mack eeked out an opening game win of the first set 11-8, but Bigley came back in the second set, whipping the Trinbagonian 11-6 to knot up the scores at one each.
But in the fluctuating affair, Mack took the advantage for a second time when he held off Bigley by another 11-8 margin before his counterpart came back 11-5 to force a fifth and deciding set, with the score at 2-2. In the decider, however, Bigley prevailed 11-6 to clinch the win 3-2.
Ross D'Juran and Nicholas Lequay were the other winners for T&T in the early morning session. D'Juran triumphed over Jamaica's Max Henzell 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-6) in the boys U-15, and Lequay clobbered Malachi Mc Master of St Vincent and the Grenadines in straight sets 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-9) in the boys U-17 division.
Otherwise, the other T&T players who took the courts - Yohann Marchock (boys U-17) and Sanjiv Mungal (boys U-17) perished against Shiloh Asregado of Guyana and Eli Carpol of Bermuda, respectively.
Marchock went down 1-3 (11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10) and Mungal was beaten 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-7).
