JAMAICA’S team to the 34th staging of the 2016 Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships was scheduled to leave the island yesterday for the Cayman Islands.

The championships is scheduled to begin today and will run through to July 23 and it includes seven Caribbean countries. They are Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and hosts the Cayman Islands.

Guyana are the defending champions in the overall team championships, as well as the boys’ champions, while Barbados are the girls’ champions. The Jamaicans finished fourth overall in the team championships last time.

Jamaica’s contingent consists of 19 players — 13 boys and six girls — along with two officials. The age-groups for boys and girls individual events are Under-11, Under-13, Under-15, Under-16 and Under-19.

Members of the boys’ team are Tahjia Lumley, Jonathan Walker, Stephan Morrison, Luke Roberts, Sebastian Levy, John Paul Asher, Tobias Levy, Kyle Haddad, Christian Haddad, Aman Dhiman, Karan Dhiman, Brady Holmes, and Adam Ardito.

The girls’ team members are Alyssa Mullings, Leah Robotham, Mira Handa, Mia Lake, Mia Mahfood and Alia Haddad. The coach is Rene Denis, who is a French Canadian, while the manager is Nathlee Boreland.

Head coach Denis, who has coached Jamaican teams in a number of tournaments including the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the Pan-American Games in 2011, said the team looks good, but the players should expect stiff competitions from both Guyana and Barbados.

“Jamaica should get through to the semi-finals and finals in the five individual age-group events. The finals, however, are not expected to be easy, as it will be tough going, but the players are looking to come out victorious,” Denis said.

“Alyssa Mullings should do well in the Under-19 girls’ section, as she is really a good champion, and she has only lost one match so far. She is also the girls’ Under-19 junior champion,” a confident Denis said.

He added that Mullings, who is the National Senior champion, is looking good, while Lumley could surprise many and should get to the semi-finals.

“It’s been quite a while since he has not seen any of the Caribbean players who will be playing in any competitions until this tournament begins to know how strong they all are, especially Guyana and Barbados,” added Denis.

Gill Binnie, who is the junior sports programme manager, and secretary of the Jamaica Squash Association (JSA), said the Under-11 event for boys and girls has been introduced for the first time, and Jamaica will be contesting that event, and it should be very exciting.

“We are expecting solid performances from all our players, but expect strong competitions from both Guyana and Barbados, but we believe our players have the capacity to deliver a few surprises,” Binnie said.

Meanwhile, Burger King will be sponsoring the Jamaicans for the fourth consecutive year, and Ricardo Brooks, sponsorship manager of Restaurants Associates Limited, is proud to be involved with the squash for the fourth year.

“We have been involved in numerous sports, and once the development concerns young people, Burger King will give their support,” said Brooks, who presented a cheque of $400,000 to the Jamaica Squash Association (JSA) to assist with the financing of Jamaica’s team to the championships.

Bruce Levy, vice-president of the JSA, and a former national player, said Jamaica has two players ranked in the world. One is the well-known Chris Binnie, who is currently ranked under the 100 mark, and has been making rapid strides and playing extremely well on the professional circuit. “This is, however, where it all started at the junior level competitions, and we look forward to successful championships.”