By KEVIN SUNICH Saturday, August 18 2012

SIX-time National champion Colin Ramasra said he is ready and rearing to go as the Senior Caribbean Area Squash Associations (CASA) 2012 tournament gets under way from today August 18th – 26th 2012.

The tournament will be played at two venues, the Cascadia Squash Courts and the Queen’s Park Oval Club. TT did not participate in the tournament last year in the Cayman Islands due to financial problems. However, they are eager to try to.

Ramasra who was beaten in the National Squash Championships in June, rebounded to take the St Lucia title last month and is looking forward to the Caribbean tournament. “I am looking forward to playing in the CASA and playing at home. Having a loss always give you the extra motivation so I think the defeat could be a good thing,”

The 2010 Senior Central America and Caribbean (CAC) silver medallist in the mixed doubles, said he is confident that TT will do well in the tournament. “ We could win the overall title but we all will need to play well for it to happen, but I think it could definitely happen,” said the TT professional.

Barbados are the defending two-time overall champions as well as the women and Veterans title holders, while the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are the defending men’s champions after defeating Jamaica to claim their first ever senior CASA title.

This competition is said to be the pinnacle of squash in the region, as it pits the best players from Barbados, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Jamaica and the OECS against each other in several categories including individual and team categories.

Ramasra, Josh Pinard, Ryan Abraham and Paul De Verteuil and fromer national junior champion Kale Wilson will lead the men’s charge. The women will be spearheaded by Sample, 17-times national champion Rhea Khan and two-time junior CASA U-17 and national senior champion Charlotte Knaggs.

The tournament serves off with the individual events from today until Tuesday, while the team events get going from Wednesday until the final day on Saturday.