Shawn Badrinauth captures Barbados squash Open crown
Stabroek News
July 15, 2002
Guyana's men's squash singles champion Shawn Badrinauth was crowned singles champion of the just concluded Barbados' Guinness Open Squash Championships which concluded at the Barbados Squash Club yesterday.
According to an article appearing on the Barbados Advocate website, Badrinauth took the coveted title by defeating the tournament's number two seed and Barbados's finest player, Gavin Cumberbatch in a thrilling four setter final.
According to the Advocate, Cumberbatch took the first game with length and depth volleys claiming the set 6-9. However, Badrinauth, an agile, tactical player, settled down in the second set and never looked back, winning the next three sets 9-4, 9-0, 9-3, with fine touch shots and excellent retrievals, Badrinauth, who went into the tournament seeded a surprising number one, easily moved past Fabian Goodridge in three straight games to advance to the finals where he justified his number one seeding.
Just over one month ago, Badrinauth failed to place among the top finishers in the Georgetown Open tournament at the Georgetown Club, after loosing his quarter-final fixture against Bermuda's number one seed and Commonwealth games selectee, Nick Kyne.
That tournament attracted quite a number of regional players.
Having had a poor run of form, Badrinauth persevered and bounced back to capture the National Men's title with a 3-0 victory over Robert Fernandes in the final on June 30. He had disposed of Canadian based Julian Chin in a semi-final match.
Prior to the Guyana Squash Association's National Championships, Badrinauth, who is on a Guyana Olympic Association's standby list, for possible participation in the Commonwealth Games, billed to get underway this weekend in Manchester, England, journeyed to St. Lucia where he placed fourth in that Island's Open tournament.
Should funds be made available for him to attend the Commonwealth Games, Badrinauth along with Regan Pollard will join former National ladies squash `Queen' Nicolette Fernandes and Canadian based men's player, Luke Fraser in England for the Commonwealth Games.
Fernandes who is currently in England preparing for the Commonwealth Games, did not participate in this year's nationals, since she has been undergoing intensive preparations with Neil Harvey, coach for the world's number one men's player Peter Nicole, an Englishman who currently represents Scotland.
The new ladies champion is Denise Jeffrey, who has placed second to Fernandes for a number of tournaments.