Thursday, July 5 2012

Trinidad and Tobago’s lone professional squash player, Colin Ramasra was crowned Men’s champion of the St Lucia Squash Open, which concluded at the St Lucia Yacht Club, Reduit, on Saturday.

In the championship match, the top local seed continued his flawless reign throughout the competition when he upset Matthew Schonfrucht of the United Kingdom 3-0. Ramasra easily won the opening set 11-2 and dominated the second with an 11-4 win. The local squash veteran then triumphantly lifted the 2012 Men’s St Lucia Open title with an 11- 6 whipping of Schonfrucht in the deciding set.

This victory saw Ramasra bring to an end a perfect week of matches that did not see him drop a single game.

The 28-year-old began his competitive campaign on a winning note when he defeated St Lucian Carlos Segovia 11/8, 11/4, 11/2. In the second round, the multiple national champion blew past another St Lucian athlete, Cameron Moffat 11/2, 11/5, 11/2.

Ramasra continued his dominant streak when he got the better of Charlie Son Son (St Lucia) 11/5, 11/5, 11/6 in the final group stage match.

The two opening sets of the quarter-final showed a determined Ramasra powering to victory 11/8, 11/5 over St Lucian Ollie Gobat. Gobat attempted to take control of the third set but was ousted 15/13 by a title hungry Ramasra.

The TT player’s semi-final encounter saw him overcome St Vincent’s number one seed James Bentick 11/7, 11/8, 11/4. This match saw Ramasra control the middle of the court which made Bentick do the majority of running and scrambling.

Meanwhile in the other semi-final, Schonfrucht defeated Kevin Bailey of St Vincent 3-1 (11/6, 8/11, 11/6, 14/12).

The English player meant business and took control of the match against a young Bailey, who was made to run to all four corners repeatedly.

In last year’s edition of the tournament, Ramasra was forced to settle for silver when he lost to Frenchman Joycelyn Martin 11-13, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4 in the final.