Bermuda Wins 2010 Caribbean Squash Champs

The Bermuda Men’s Squash Team pulled off a major upset in the 2010 Caribbean Squash Championships (CASA) when they comprehensively defeated the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) 4-1 in the Final, played this afternoon [Aug 21] in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The first player on court for Bermuda was 17 year old junior, #5 seed Chris Stout, who had recorded his only Team Championship loss in the previous day’s semi-final against Barbados, but he had recorded victories against both Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, and appeared confident from the start. Stout played an attacking game, making very few mistakes, and chasing every possible ball around the court. He calmly handled the pressure of being the lead-off player with a convincing 3-0 win against experienced Kevin Bailey of OECS.

Next up was #2 seed Nick Kyme who won the first game comfortably but had problems with the hot and humid conditions and in a closely fought match he lost to Joe Chapman 1-3.

The third match of the day featured a clash of the two #1 seeds, Patrick Foster for Bermuda against Joe Kneipp, who is no stranger to Bermuda having played in several of the major professional tournaments held here. Kneipp is a former World top ten player and he took a tough first game from Foster after a series of long exhausting rallies. Foster began to make an impression in the 2nd game with the long rallies appearing to take their toll on Kneipp. After an exchange of short shots at the front of the court Kneipp limped off the court with a suspected muscle tear and, unfortunately, was unable to continue. Foster was awarded the match and at this point the team score was 2-1 to Bermuda in the best of five final.

Bermuda’s #4 seed, and another outstanding junior, Micah Franklin, had been unbeaten in team competition, and he stepped on court knowing that one more win would be enough to seal a great victory for his team. He was made to work extra hard by Kevin Hannaway but Franklin was simply too strong around the court and he cruised to a 3-0 win, giving Bermuda an unassailable lead.

With the championship already decided it was left to #3 seed Robbie Maycock, to put the finishing touches to a great victory as he romped to a 3-1 win against James Bentick.

By coincidence, Bermuda convincingly won every match in the Team Championships by the same score of 4-1, against Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados in the semi-finals, and OECS in the Final.

An elated Team Captain, Patrick Foster, commented, “What a great feeling! I’m so proud of all the boys, each one of them have pushed themselves all week in very difficult conditions and every point was hard fought throughout. We want to thank everyone at home for all the emails and text messages supporting us. It was great to know that everyone was so behind us. We are going to celebrate tonight, we’ve earned it!”

The Bermuda team is pictured below with the team from OECS just after the finals today:

#CaribbeanRelations #Squash

Category: All, News, Sports