Jamaica finished fifth overall at the recently concluded Caribbean Area Squash Association’s Junior Championship in Cayman Islands.

The girls’ team finished fourth in a gruelling round robin competition, which saw them losing 0-5 to Guyana and 2-3 to Barbados. They rebounded to beat Bermuda 3-2 and then Cayman 3-2, but lost 3-2 to Trinidad and Tobago in the third place play-off.

The boys’ team finished sixth after losing 3-2 to both Cayman and Guyana. They went on to beat Bermuda 3-2, but then lost 3-2 to Trinidad and Tobago.

Champions Guyana were made to work for every point by rising stars Barbados. Barbados beat Guyana 3-2 to take the girl’s competition, but the Guyanese boys held off Cayman 3-2 to win the boys’ competition and claim the championship for yet another year.

Reflecting on Jamaica’s performance, Gill Binnie, the manager of the junior national programme said:

“We saw some strong individual performances from our players, but on a whole we know we have work to do. In the last few years we’ve seen several of our strong young players move on to the senior team and now we have to help the new players to gain the experience and match skills that will help them to be competitive on the regional stage. But the whole tournament was a great learning experience and we thank our major sponsor, Burger King, for helping us to get there,” she added.