Following knee surgery earlier this year and not knowing whether she would be able to play, Karen Meakins has defied the odds and has written her name on history’s page as a World Squash Champion for Barbados.
A true inspiration, Meakins at age 50 defeated Henrieta Loksova of Slovakia in four games 11-7, 8-11, 11-3 and 11-7 in the Over-50 women’s final of the 2022 Betard WSF World Masters Squash Championship played yesterday at the Hasta La Vista Club in Wrocław, Poland.
It was a good overall performance from Barbados as the highly rated Mark Sealy won bronze in the men’s Over-60 competition 11-9, 2-11, 11-8, 8-11 and 11-3 in the three best of five sets showdown against Trevor Wilkinson of South Africa.
Barbadian top players Karen Meakins and Mark Sealy celebrate their individual gold and bronze medals won yesterday at the 2022 World Squash Championship in Poland.
Since winning the championship final, Meakins told Barbados TODAY the feeling of winning the Gold medal is indescribable as she now sits on the squash throne as a Barbadian, Caribbean and World Champion with an impeccable 15-time national titles to her name. This latest accomplishment is even more spectacular because it is also Barbados’ first major World Squash title at any level.
“Winning a gold medal is indescribable, to be honest. I have played squash for 40 years and it’s only since I’ve been playing Masters Squash that a chance of winning a world title became a possibility. The last 24 hours have been a bit of a blur. I remember the disbelief when I won yesterday. I couldn’t believe I had finally won a world title. I came off the court and sobbed on Mark’s (Sealy) shoulder! The feeling of achieving one of your lifelong goals is unbelievable! I’m so happy and proud!
“This title means everything to me. Being a World Champion in a sport that has been such a huge part of my life for so long is the best thing ever. It’s also fantastic to do it representing Barbados. I believe it’s the first World title for a squash player from Barbados, which makes me very proud. Although I wasn’t born in Barbados I have lived here for 22 years and represented Barbados for the past 20 years. And turning 50 has been something that I have embraced. It’s been pretty good so far!” Meakins explained.
“Because of my knee surgery earlier this year, I didn’t think I would recover in time to play. Anyone who knows me knows how competitive I am and I’m not the sort of person who will enter a tournament if I’m not prepared. However, I worked hard on my recovery and started to play some good squash again over the last couple of months. That’s when I decided to enter as I thought I would regret it if I didn’t,” the World Champion Meakins expressed. (ML)
