Gia Ghuran bt Delilah Pease 11-5, 11-7, 11-5
In the Girl’s Under 11 Final on July 17, Delilah was up against the number 1 seed and very impressive Gia Ghuran of Trinidad and Tobago. Both girls had navigated their way through the draw without dropping a game. Today something had to give! Both girls have fantastic serves and apply huge pressure especially when serving from the forehand side. Gia immediately found her rhythm making things exceedingly difficult for Delilah. She opened up a lead and managed to maintain it throughout the first game to take it 11-5. Delilah coped slightly better with Gia’s serve in the 2nd game and played some fantastic volley returns. She was closer but Gia still managed to take the game 11-7. Delilah gave her absolute all every point, chased everything down, hit some great winners of her own… but ultimately Gia was slightly too good on the day and prevailed 3-0. An incredible debut performance representing the BVI from Delilah. She’s only 8 years old and will have two more years to try and go one better and get her hands on the trophy! I certainly wouldn’t back against her!
Ben Shepherd bt Ethan Mohamed 11-1, 11-5, 11-3
Like Delilah, Ethan was up against the number 1 seed in the form of Ben Shepherd from Barbados. Ben is quite small in stature but is known for being a very skilful player. Ethan’s game plan was to try and be solid around the middle and get the ball past Ben before then looking use his own skills to take the ball in short. Ethan managed in patches to play some high quality squash… but he couldn’t quite match Ben’s consistency. Ben was able to keep a cushion in all 3 games and ran out a 3-0 winner. Something for Ethan to take away from the match is that he needs to remain positive at all times. He’s a great young player and he needs to fully believe that when he’s on court and not be disheartened if things aren’t quite going his way. I fully believe he has the potential to overturn this result down the road!
Both Ethan and Delilah have succeeded in making history for the BVI by claiming the BVI’s first silver medals at the Junior Caribbean Champs since 2009! This is something they can both be immensely proud of! I have no doubt that they’ll continue to improve and push for more honours in the future!!
Next up is the Doubles Event.
On July 18, Oliver Henderson and Danny Henderson taking on Barbados in the Boys’ Doubles
And
Darci Reich and Zevieh Abraham vs Barbados in the Mixed Doubles