Delilah Pease wins Canadian Junior Open

December 11, 2024 by

Another historic week for BVI Squash as Delilah Pease becomes the first ever BVI player to win the Canadian Junior Open

Delilah Pease wins 2024 Canada Junior Open Squash Championship
Delilah Pease wins 2024 Canada Junior Open Squash Championship

The BVI Squash Racket Association, with support from the BVI Olympic Committee, took a team of 4 of its strongest juniors to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada for the 2024 Canadian Junior Open Championships, December 7-10. 

The prestigious event within the squash world saw just under 400 juniors competing in categories ranging from Under 11 to Under 19. 

BVI Junior Squash Team

The BVI junior squash team comprised Oliver Henderson (Boys U19), Danny Henderson (Boys U17), Jakob Noblett-Diaz (Boys U13) and Delilah Pease (Girls U11) accompanied by National Squash Coach Adam Murrills.

All the players delivered strong performances throughout the competition, collectively winning 15 of 23 matches. 

Oliver Henderson won 2 of 5 matches, Danny won 3 of 5 while Jakob won an impressive 5 of 7 matches claiming the Plate 1c competition. 

Delilah Pease historic win

Delilah Pease played impressively from her first round on wards. In the last 16, she played Naomi Kim, a very strong Canadian opponent, in what was a very close encounter in which she fought back from 1-0 and 7-3 down. This fighting spirit was something she would need to call upon later in the event.

Delilah won both her quarter final and semi final 3-0 to move into the final where she was up against Eugenia Cao, the number 2 ranked player in Canada. Eugenie came out strong in the first game and used her speed, low kills, and boasts to great effect to take the first game 11-7.

Eugenie is a left hander and, between games, Coach Adam and Delilah spoke about the importance of targeting Eugenie’s backhand particularly deep in the court. They also spoke about making sure Delilah’s serve hit the side wall to make it tougher for Eugenie to get in to the rallies. 

Delilah took the advice on board and came out firing. She was hitting with purpose to the back of court and was managing to exploit Eugenie’s slight weakness deep on her backhand side. Delilah constructed her points intelligently and won games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 lead. 

Eugenie attacked game 4 with a renewed vigour and took the game to tie the match at 2-2 and force a 5th and final deciding game.

Competing on the glass court in a major final in front of a big crowd can be daunting and many 10 year olds would have let the occasion get the better of them. However, both Delilah and Eugenie handled the situation with great composure and a steeliness that belied their age. The two traded points back and forth. Eugenie managed to pull away slightly towards the end of the game to create a 10-8 lead and earn herself 2 Championship balls. Delilah used her aforementioned fighting spirit to claw her way back to 10-10 and force a tie break. Delilah took a deep breath, steadied herself, and went on to produce two more incredible points to claim the Canadian Junior Open Title.

In doing so she has made history for the BVI in becoming the territory’s first player to win the prestigious event.

“This win is testament to Delilah’s hard work, dedication, and complete love of the game,” said Coach Adam. “Hopefully this serves to spur on all of our juniors and show them what they are capable of achieving!

“Congrats to Delilah on creating history for BVI Squash and congrats to all our Elite players for constantly pushing their boundaries and raising the ceiling of BVI Squash!”

The BVISRA is based at the Tortola Sports Club which features state of the art courts. The venue hosts the BVISRA PSA tournaments and most recently hosted the 2024 Nagico and Interpath Junior Caribbean Squash Association (CASA) Championships.

Filed Under: BVI Olympic Committee, Delilah Pease, Squash Tagged With: , ,

Squash players launch first day of competition for Team BVI at Gold Coast 2018

April 5, 2018 by

By BVI Commonwealth Games Association

Squash players, Neville Sorrentino and Joe Chapman with Coach Adam Murrills on the first day of competition at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Photo: BVICGA

The GC2018 competition schedule for the VI started on day one of the Commonwealth Games with Joe Chapman and Neville Sorrentino playing matches in the men’s Squash singles at the Oxenford Studios on April 5.

Joe Chapman (PSA world ranked #292) played with strength in his match against Farhan Zaman of Pakistan (PSA world ranked #87) to take it to four games but ultimately losing 11-6,11-13,11-4,11-6. “I feel good with how this match went,” said Joe. “Farhan is a great player who had a career ranking of 47 and who’s a really great shot maker.  I was going toe-to-toe with him until the end and playing some of the best squash in my life especially considering everything that happened after the storm and the lack of squash facilities at home.

Neville Sorrentino competing in his first Commonwealth Games, was defeated by Tayyab Aslam of Pakistan 11-3, 11-4, 11-4. “It was a tough match and I was a bit nervous but I enjoyed it,” said Neville. “The result is what it should be but the game was played in good spirits and I’m just happy to be part of these Games and to have this experience of a lifetime.”

Joe and Neville will continue with matches in the Plate round which will be played on Friday, April 6. The two will then compete in the men’s doubles on Tuesday, April 10 when they come up against Declan James and James Willstrop representing England. The VI duo will meet the Pakistani players, Aslam and Zaman again in a doubles match on Thursday, April 11.

Joe and Neville trained almost daily in the 3 months prior to the Commonwealth Games and were coached by Adam Murrills.

Track and field competitions for the VI’s athletes will begin on Sunday, April 8 and continue through April 12.

The Games will be broadcast via Flow Sports Live and Flow’s mobile customers will also have live access via WiFi or Mobile Data to the Games via the Flow Sports 1 App. Live coverage on the Flow Sports Networks will start each evening at 7pm Eastern Caribbean Time and extend well into the late-night hours. Caribbean fans can also follow live Commonwealth Games events each morning, which is evening in Australia.

Supporters who want to follow the events and competition live must subtract 14 hours from the times scheduled on the official Gold Coast 2018 web site (www.gc2018.com).

Updates and photos will be posted regularly on the BVI Olympic Committee’s  social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube.

 

Filed Under: BVI Olympic Committee, Gold Coast 2018 News, Squash Tagged With: , , , ,

Harneys BVI Squash Championships 2018 underway

February 20, 2018 by

By BVI Squash Racket Association

18-year old Jesus Camacho (Mexico), beat PSA World ranked #82 Adam Murrills, (England), 3-1 to win the 2016 PSA British Virgin Islands Open Championships.

The Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour returns to the BVI as the Harneys BVI Squash Championships 2018 and gets underway at the Tortola Sports Club in Pasea Estate from Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, February 24, 2018.

Professional Squash players from USA, England, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Guatemala and Liberia will mix it up on court with home-grown entries. 

Local squash players, Neville Sorrentino, Dion Anselm, Jonathan Addo, Joe Chapman and Mike Adamson will be competing against the accomplished international players.

Last year’s runner up Adam Murrills from England, seeded in the #2 slot, will be looking to take this year’s trophy but faces tough competition from the #1 seed, USA’s Christopher Gordon. Matches will be toughly contested with $5,000 in total prize money up for grabs.

Last year’s final was 63 minutes of thrilling squash when 18-year-old, Mexican Jesus Camacho took on seasoned England campaigner, Adam Murrills with both players delighting the crowd with intense squash for over an hour.

Game 1 was neck and neck throughout with Jesus saving match ball at 10-9 then taking the next three points to win game 1. Adam came out aggressively in game 2 and marched out quickly to an 8-0 lead. Jesus conserved his energy, only trying to hit winners, and Adam squared the match easily winning game 2 by 11-1.

Another momentum change at the start of game 3, as Jesus quickened the pace dramatically putting extreme pressure on Adam for the first time in the match. The smoothness from Adam’s game was gone as he had less time on every shot and Jesus had taken game 3 by 11-3 in double quick time. Adam regrouped for game 4 and it was neck and neck throughout. Adam was hitting some grand winners including an overhead backhand crosscourt into the nick but it came at a cost as a few errors were creeping into his game.

With all to play for at 8-9, Jesus sharpened his concentration and quickened the pace once more to take the last two points and the championship by three games to one. The crowd roared its approval at the vintage gladiatorial spectacle as the players were clearly physically and emotionally drained.

Jesus Camacho, current champion said at the time,“My first PSA win. I must tell my family. I am so happy! Thank you!”

Adam Murrills, runner up said, “I gave it my best shot today but Jesus keeps it so fast and tight and doesn’t make many mistakes. A tough loss today but congratulations to the youngster. But what a great tournament and a fabulous country! I’ve lost count of the number of times I have visited the BVI and its always extraordinary.”

Mark Chapman, BVI Squash President said, “Without doubt, whether you know Squash or not, this will truly be amongst the best in the sport ever seen in the BVI. Our thanks to our platinum sponsor, Harneys, who have joined us this year and also to Deloitte and National Bank of the Virgin Islands who have been our sponsors since inception in 2012.”

Filed Under: Squash Tagged With: , , , , ,

BVI brings home 2017 Senior OECS Squash Champion title

June 7, 2017 by

By BVI Squash Racket Association

The BVI, represented by 15 players, took the overall Championship title playing against St Vincent and The Grenadines and St Lucia in the Senior OECS Individual and Team Championships which took place June 1 – 3, 2017 in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Photo: Provided

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) were represented by 15 players competing against St Vincent and The Grenadines (SVG) and St Lucia in the Senior OECS Individual and Team Championships which took place in SVG, June 1 – 3, 2017.

Securing the most points during the tournament, BVI brought home the title of Overall Senior OECS Squash Champions.

BVI took top spots in the Men’s Individuals won by Joseph Chapman, Joe Faragher-Kneipp in the Men’s 40+, and Neville Sorrentino in the Men’s 50+.

BVI also came first in the Women’s Individuals which was won by Daniela Schumann.

BVI continued to shine in the Men’s Vet Team when Joe Faragher-Kneipp beat James Bentick (SVG) 3:0 in the Men’s 40+, Neville Sorrentino won 3:1 against Colin Alexander (SVG) in the Men’s 50+, and Winston Findlay took the match 3:1 against Keith Boyea (SVG) in the Men’s 60+.

In the Women’s Team, Daniela Schumann beat Giovanna Miller-Alexander in 3 straight games as did Zoe Sorrentino playing against Gianna Miller-Alexander (SVG).

BVI players included Michael Adamson, Dion Anselm, Anthony Campbell, Joseph Chapman, Mark Chapman, Paul Cowlard, Caroline Dubois, Joe Faragher-Kneipp, Winston Findlay, Tatenda Gotosa, Daniela Schumann, Neville Sorrentino, Sue Sorrentino, Zoe Sorrentino, Richard Taylor.

The results of the OECS Squash Championships determine the players that will make up the OECS teams to compete in the Caribbean Area Squash Association Championships which this year will take place August 13 – 19, 2017 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The OECS Men’s Team comprises Joe Faragher-Kneipp (BVI), Joseph Chapman (BVI), Neville Sorrentino (BVI), Jules Snagg (SVG), James Bentick (SVG), Keith Boyea (SVG), Jason Doyle (SVG), Kevin Hannaway (SVG), Kai Bentick (SVG), Othniel Bailey (SVG).

The OECS Women’s Team includes Daniela Schumann (BVI), Zoe Sorrentino (BVI), Caroline Dubois (BVI), Gianna Miller-Alexander (SVG) Thandi Myers (SVG), Greta Primus (SVG), and Sherian Slater(SVG).

The OECS Team Manager is Mark Chapman.

Full results of the 2017 Senior OECS Squash Championships:

Individual Championships.

Team Championships.

Filed Under: Squash Tagged With: , , ,