Best cops silver medal

Barbados’ Meagan Best has won silver in the girls’ singles at the XVII Pan Am Junior Squash Championships being held in Toronto, Canada.

Today, Best defeated Canadian Brianna Jefferson 11-5, 11-5, 11-7 in the semi-final to book her place in the final. She then faced Maria Paula Moya of Ecuador in the final but lost this evening 1-3 in very close games, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.

Earlier in the day in the Mixed U-19 doubles semi-finals, Best teamed up with Khamal Cumberbatch and booked a place in the final after defeating Canada’s Brianna Jefferson and Nikhil Ismail 11-5, 11-4. The pair will now face Ecuador’s Maria Paula Moya and David Costales in the final to be played tomorrow evening.

Barbados is being represented by Best, Jada Smith-Padmore, Sumairaa Suleman, Cumberbatch, Chemar Burnham and Darien Benn in the competition that started on Sunday and ends June 22.

Over the first two days of competition in the girls’ doubles, Smith-Padmore and Suleman played well but were defeated 2-1 by Katya Aceituno and Erika Parker Schmidt of El Salvador in the quarterfinals 7-11, 11-8, 11-1. The boys’ doubles team of Benn and Burnham battled hard but were defeated 11-5, 11-9 by the El Salvador pair of Diego Agreda and Vladimir Iglesias in the quarterfinals.

In the boys’ singles Cumberbatch also made an impression after winning his first and second round matches against Jacob Bulbulia (USA) 4-11, 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8 and Nikhil Ismail (Canada) 11-6, 16-14, 12-10 and booked a spot in the quarterfinals. He was denied a place in the semifinals after losing a tough battle against Leonardo Vargas Inurreta (Mexico) 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11. 

In other matches in the boys’ singles, Burnham won his first match against Pierce Terry (Cayman) 11-2, 11-5, 11-5, then lost against Juan C.V. Inurreta (Mexico) 2-11, 0-11, 2-11. Benn lost in the first round to Diego Agreda (El Salvador) 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 4-11.