Caribbean junior squash
Damien DaSilva does it again!
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
July 20, 2004
Damien DaSilva won his fifth Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) title when he captured the boys' under-19 at the 2004 championships in the Cayman Islands on Sunday evening.
The Guyana junior team ended the individual competition of the CASA championships with one out of a possible four titles.
According to reports, after his teammates' valiant but unsuccessful efforts, DaSilva lifted his team's spirits in dramatic fashion by defeating Jamaica's David Patterson to take his first under-19 title and raise his overall tally to five junior Caribbean titles.
DaSilva, who played at the regional level for the first time when he was ten years old (1997), won his first title in 2000 when he defeated compatriot Ryan Farnum in the boys' under-14 final in Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2001, he defeated Farnum once again for a title, but this time it was in the under-15 final when the championships were staged in Bermuda. However, the following year, he lost to Barbados' Rhett Cumberbatch in the under-15 final in Barbados.
DaSilva, regained his winning ways in 2002 when he beat Farnum in the under-17 final in Jamaica then successfully defended that title last year here in Guyana by getting past compatriot Stanley Marcus in the final.
DaSilva, now 17 years old, pulled off an exciting victory to beat Patterson and claim his fifth title.
In 1998, DaSilva was beaten in the final by Farnum in the then under-12 division then in 1999, he lost to Cumberbatch once again in the under-12 age group.
Earlier on Sunday evening, Kayla Jeffrey was defeated 2-3 by Bermuda's Kelly Barnes in the girls' under-13 final.
After her big win over her teammate and defending champion, Kristina King in the girls' under-17 semifinal on Saturday evening, Chantelle Fernandes was unable to win her first Caribbean title as she went down to Joanna Scoon of Trinidad and Tobago by a 13 margin in the final.
In the boys' under-17 final, Kristian Jeffrey started out well controlling the pace, but was eventually outplayed by Jamaica's Chris Binnie who won by a 31 margin.
Kristina King, the 2003 girls' under-17 champion, lost her third-place playoff to Barbados' Nadia McCarthy.
DaSilva joins Roger Arjoon, Richard Chin, Nicolette Fernandes and Kristina King as locals who have won five or more junior CASA titles.
Chin and Fernandes have won six titles each while the others have won five each.
In recent years, Nicolette Fernandes won the girls under-14 title on two occasions, the under-16 title once and the under-19 three times, while Kristina King won the under-12 title three times and the under-15 and under-17 titles once.
Yesterday was a rest day and the team matches will start this morning with Guyana's boys taking on their counterparts from the host country then the Venezuelan boys in the evening, while the girls come up against Bermuda this afternoon.
Guyana are the defending girls, boys and overall team champions.