Toogood claims bronze at squash championships

Bermuda’s Charlotte Toogood took bronze in the girl’s Under-13 division, winning the sole home individual medal at the 2014 Junior CASA Squash Championships.

Yesterday was the culmination of the age group draws — and the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association venue once again witnessed some thrilling action.

It was Toogood, though, who was left to fly the home flag on the podium, beating Jade Pitcairn, of the Cayman Islands, in three games, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.

“Last year I got fourth place in CASA, so I was hoping for third place to improve, and I was very happy when I did. I’m very proud of myself for improving upon last year,” Toogood told the Bermuda Sun.

“The first game was fairly close, but I was confident I was going to win it. I felt like I ran her around the court and hit it to the back well, so I won that game.

“The second game was a bit tougher, it was closer,  but I pushed her to the front and the back, and she got too tired to win it. 

“The third one was 11-9, so it was really close. I called a lot of lets, and got free points, so I’m very happy to come third.”

Bermuda’s Anaya Smith missed out on a bronze after losing his boys’ Under-13 third-fourth playoff match against Guyana’s Shomari Wiltshire 12-10, 11-5, 11-2, while home player Dylan Pratt suffered the same fate in the Boys’ Under-15 playoff, going down 11-8, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4 to Cayman’s Isaiah Robinson.

The tournament itself is a large undertaking for the BSRA, with around 120 players from seven different teams competing.

The club’s BSRA director Patrick Foster is delighted with how it has gone so far.

“It’s been fantastic,” he told the Sun. “The tournament is going really well and is much better than we expected it to be.

“We’re very lucky to have the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and Department of Youth & Sports supporting us. 

“We’ve had to house, feed, and transport all these people for eight days and it’s been great. Everybody says they have been enjoying themselves. It’s been a good tournament and good fun.”

Foster was also happy  with how his team performed after a tough draw. And he reserved special praise for Emma Keane’s performance in the girls’ Under-19 category. 

Despite losing to Guyana’s #2-ranked Victoria Arjoon in the quarterfinals, Foster called her performance and leadership “enormous”.

“Emma had a tough draw in the Under-19s. It’s probably the toughest we’ve had in years. 

“She was down 2-0, fought back to 2-2, and fought her right down to a tie-breaking fifth, which she lost 13-11. 

“It was a great performance and she’s led the team really well, despite not making the semis or finals as she would have hoped. 

“In terms of performance, she’s been outstanding.”

The team event got under way at 9am today.