Two silver, two bronze for Trinidad and Tobago at Caribbean Jr Squash

TRINIDAD and Tobago concluded their 2025 Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships individual campaign with two silver and two bronze medals at the South Sound Squash Club in Cayman Islands on July 1.

TT’s Seth Thong and Gia Ghuran battled to silver in the boys U19 and girls U13 singles, respectively, while Aaniyah Ramdeen snared bronze in the girls U13 singles and Josie Thong was third in the girls U17 singles.

Top-seeded Thong was TT’s last hope of securing a gold medal on July 1. However, third-seeded Guyanese Louis Da Silva had other plans in the trophy match. Thong put up a solid fight and despite losing the first game 9-11, he bounced back to win the second 11-6.

Da Silva regained control with an 11-13 victory in the third game but Thong persisted, and levelled once more with a 13-11 triumph in the fourth. In the match decider, Thong rallied hard but could not hold on, as he went down 9-11 in the final game, settling for runner-up spot.

Second-seeded Ghuran played unbeaten throughout the rounds, but was stopped at the final hurdle as top seeded US Virgin Islander Delilah Grace Pease bettered her 11-5, 11-0, 11-4 in the trophy match.

Earlier on, Ghuran advanced from the round of 16 via bye and went on to defeat Guyana’s Taylor Kyme 11-1, 11-6, 6-11, 11-3 in the quarters and Bajan Morgan Daniel 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 in the semi-final.

TT’s Ramdeen lost her semi-final against Pease 3-0 but put up a fight in the third-place playoff and rallied from two games down to trump Daniel 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 14-12 to grab bronze. TT’s Saanvi Chattergoon fought hard against Jamaican Marley Price but lost her opening test 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4, 8-11.

Josie Thong also held on to bronze in the girls U17 as she eased past Bermudan Somers Stevenson 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 in the third-place playoff. Thong missed out on a shot in the final after finishing second in her round-robin group matches.

She defeated Jamaican Rhina Stoddart 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 and Bajan Thalia Knight 11-4, 11-5, 11-3, but lost to Guyanese Emily Fung A Fat 5-11, 7-11, 11-13.

Evan Ghuran missed out on a medal after he lost the third-place playoff 0-11, 7-11, 11-9, 3-11 to Vincentian Zavin Garrick. After advancing to the semis, Evan Ghuran was outmatched 2-11, 1-11, 5-11 by the category’s top seed and eventual Vincentian gold medalist Savante Padmore.

In other divisions, TT’s Coen Mack and Vithala Chattergoon were eliminated from their respective boys U11 quarter-final bouts after notching earlier round of 16 wins.

Mack got past Vincentian Ethan Webster 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 but fell 7-11, 6-11, 7-11 to Bajan Finn Graham in the next round. Likewise, Chattergoon clawed back from two games down to beat USVI’s Ashton Starkey 11-13, 8-11, 11-2, 11-5, 14-12 before losing to second-seeded Guyanese Ethan Bulkan 1-11, 2-11, 3-11.

TT’s Lara Allum and Jess D’Juran were also stopped in their respective quarter-final ties as Allum lost 4-11, 1-11, 3-11 to top-seeded Bajan Denielle Benn while D’Juran fell 3-11, 4-11, 9-11 to Guyana’s Ella Fernandes.

In the boys U15, Nixon Callender II and Ross D’Juran were unable to get past their opening fixtures as the former lost 4-11, 3-11, 4-11 to USVI’s Jakob Noblett and the latter was bettered 11-13, 11-5, 5-11, 3-11 by Adriano Vera of the host nation.

Additionally, in the boys U17, Matteo Felician topped Jamaican Max Henzell 11-5, 11-7, 12-10 in his first match, but was knocked out of the quarters 10-12, 2-11, 5-11 by third-seeded Bermudian Owen Rosorea. Matthaus Mathura did not get past the round of 16 as Guyanese Brenno Da Silva outscored him 1-11, 0-11, 4-11.

In the girls U15, Elise Mathura lost her opening match 4-11, 4-11, 3-11 to Guyana’s Tiana Gomes.

Doubles matches serve off on July 2.