KAREN MEAKINS is on course for more squash glory.
Without dropping a single game, she was just one step away from securing the overall ladies’ crown last night at the 22nd Senior Caribbean Squash Championships in Marine Gardens.
Losing only 24 points over three days, the reigning 14-time national champion has been in a class of her own en route to making an eighth consecutive appearance in the final of the Caribbean’s showpiece tournament.
Playing before a large partisan crowd at the Barbados Squash Club on Sunday evening, Meakins duly stamped her authority on home court, whipping Ashley DeGroot of Guyana 11-2, 11-3, 11-3. She was slated to face DeGroot’s compatriot Mary Fung-A-Fat, who beat fellow Guyanese Victoria Arjoon in straight games 11-7, 11-7, 11-6.
“Just one more to go now,” said Meakins, the 2010 National Sportsperson Of The Year, who was earlier installed as the pre-tournament favourite in the absence of defending champion and World No. 19 Nicolette Fernandes of Guyana.
“Mary is a solid player, but I’m representing local hopes and I’m extremely motivated to do well. I’m confident of a good result and I’m going to lay it all on the line for Barbados in the final.”
Among the men, two players who earlier this month competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have advanced to the final, with four-time defending champion Chris Binnie of Jamaica set to face Cameron Stafford of the Cayman Islands.
In the semi-finals, Binnie was victorious against Guyanese veteran Richard Chin 11-8, 11-9, 14-12, while Stafford defeated Chin’s compatriot Sunil Seth 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8.
Both finals were to be played last night at the Barbados Squash Club starting from 6. (PR/JM)
