Chloe Walcott and Seth Thong were crowned the women’s and men’s champions of the T&T Senior National Squash Championships at the Racquet Centre of the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Port-of-Spain, Saturday afternoon.
Walcott, a third-place finisher in the Championships last year, proved to be a cut above the rest from the start which concluded with a convincing 11-9, 4-11, 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 victory over Faith Gellizeau in the final.
Marie Claire-Barcant, the beaten finalist last year, was favoured to capitalise on the absence of Rhea Khan, the 2023 winner who didn’t participate due to injury. However, Barcant could not hold off Gellizeau, the country’s rising talent in the semifinals.
Gellizeau who was fourth in the Nationals last year got the better of her counterpart in a fluctuating affair 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 8-11 to face Walcott in the final.
Earlier, Walcott prevailed over Sigourney Williams in her semifinal encounter 11-7, 11-7, 11-6.
Thong, the second-seeded player, went up against the top-seeded Colin Ramasra, the multiple-time winner in a showdown of youth versus experience, but Thong prevailed.
With defending champion Chayse Mc Quan out of the picture due to his unavailability, Ramasra tried to recover from his loss in the final in 2023, however, Thong held him off for the first set 11-5. Thong, fresh from the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships last year, then secured the title with consecutive victories in the second and third sets 11-8 and 11-7.
Earlier, Ramasra rolled back the years in the quarterfinals with a straight-sets victory over Peter Pirtheesingh 11-4, 11-0, 11-2 for an easy entry into the semifinals where he faced third-seeded Brandon De Montrichard.
De Montrichard himself also triumphed over Anthony Allum, taking three sets to dispose of his counterpart. He made his intentions known early, brushing aside Allum in the first set 11-5. Thereafter, it was all a De Montrichard who whipped his opponent in the other two sets 11-7 and 11-3.
Ramasra had posed a different challenge for him in the round of four, the multiple-time winner snatched the opening set 11-4 and pushed ahead 2-0 by claiming the second set 11-3. De Montrichard tried for a consolation win in the final set, but the veteran player proved too strong in the end, sealing the win with an 11-6 triumph.
Meanwhile, Montrichard rebounded to take the third-place finish in the tournament when he swept past Zachary Loquan 3-1.
Loquan took the advantage with an 11-7 victory that appeared to have set the stage for the final result. But De Montrichard stormed back with three straight wins that sealed the overall win 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 to capture the third-place bronze medal.
