INTERNATIONAL squash returns to Jamaica with the staging of the Senior Caribbean Squash Championship, the premiere event on the Caribbean squash calendar, at the Liguanea Club from August 21–27.

The event was launched at the Liguanea Club in Kingston on Tuesday and will be the first senior championship that will be played in the Caribbean since the pandemic — and the first senior squash championships in Jamaica since 2007. Over 150 players will participate in the week-long event.

Jamaica has produced the men’s individual champion 13 times. The leading men’s player, Chris Binnie, has won that title nine times and will be vying for a 10th title at the event. Binnie won his first title in 2009 and then won seven straight titles between 2011 and 2017. He last won it in 2019, the last time the championship was held.

Other Jamaican men’s champions have been Orville Haslam who won it in 1977 and 1979, Wayne Burrowes in 1983, and James Bullock who won it in 2005.

The ladies have won the individual singles title eleven times, the first being Perla Manapol in 1981. Susan Lawrence holds the most titles with five, her victories coming in 1983, 1985, 1989, 1991 and 1995. Marlene West comes next with four titles won in 1993, 1999, 2001 and 2003.

Karen Anderson, the president of the Squash Association, is the last singles champion Jamaica produced and she won her title in 2007. The championship became an annual event in 2010. The event was not held in 2018.

Jamaica has won the men’s team championship nine times while the ladies have done so eight times. The country has been the overall team champions a total of ten times, and the veteran team champions three times. The veterans team competition began in 1997.

For the first time in many years Jamaica will be fielding a ladies’ team and the tournament will be carried live on SportsMax.

Anderson sees the hosting of the event on local soil as a great way to grow and develop the sport on the island.

“The tournament is a platform for growth through our grass roots school initiative,” she said.

“We will also be looking to strengthen our development and results in the international arena, starting with the Pan Am Games qualifiers in 2023,” she pointed out.

Anderson is desperate to change the way the sport is viewed in Jamaica.

“Jamaica’s sport landscape has a potpourri of sport, core sport, non-core sport, network, recreation and elite. We form part of the elite.

“We hope in three to five years to become core by attracting more players to the sport, upgrading our coaches and officials, attending more tournaments, hosting more tournaments and doing well regionally and internationally,” she explained.

Tahjia Lumley, one of Jamaica’s most promising young players, is happy that he will finally be able to compete in a major event in front of a home crowd.

“It is my first tournament here in Jamaica. I have played three Caribbean championships prior to this so this is the fourth one for me, but the first here on home soil. And, it is my first singles tournament here in Jamaica so I am looking forward to it,” she said.

The focus for local fans, however, will be whether or not the Caribbean’s leading male singles player, Chris Binnie, can make it title number 10.

— Dwayne Richards