Historic double bronze medals in squash for Barbados

By Rawle Toney

Barbados has wrapped up its Pan Am Games campaign with a historic double bronze in squash, thanks to Margret Prow, Amanda Haywood, and Megan Best’s performance in the women’s team event.

Prow and Best had already etched their names into the annals of Barbadian sports history when they became the first athletes to win a bronze medal in women’s doubles squash.

Teaming up with Haywood, the trio reached the women’s team event semi-finals, where they faced the eventual finalists, the USA.

In the semi-finals, Prow played against Olivia Fiechter and was defeated with a score of 11-8, 11-8, 11-1.

Best was next in action, tasked with trying to level the game, but she came up against Amanda Sobhy and went down 11-4, 11-1, 11-6.

The Pan Am Games will conclude on Sunday, and Barbados will leave the event with two bronze medals, both thanks to the outstanding performance in squash.

Shane Brathwaite, a hurdler, is the only Barbadian athlete to have won gold at the Pan Am Games, achieving the feat in the men’s 110 hurdles in Lima, Peru, in 2019.

Before the success of the squash team, the 30-member Barbados team at the 19th Pan American Games had not secured a podium finish in any of the 20 sporting disciplines they participated in.

Team Barbados competed in a wide range of sports, including aquatics, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, e-football, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, rowing, sailing, shooting, squash, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, and wrestling.