COLIN RAMASRA is among six players from the host nation to take part in the first ever professional squash tournament to be held in Trinidad and Tobago.
The QPCC (Queen’s Park Cricket Club) Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament will be contested from tomorrow to Saturday at the QPCC Indoor Racquet Centre, Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair.
Seth Thong was the only player from T&T to claim one of the four wild cards when the tournament was first announced early last month.
But after three players pulled out with injury two weeks ago, Brandon De Montrichard and Zachary Loquan threw their hats in the ring.
And Ramasra, Nicholas Lequay and Joel Augustine accepted the invitation a few days ago after three other withdrawals.
A total of 24 players are competing in the men’s competition, including four from the Caribbean.
There are 15 world-ranked players, but the only one from this region with a world rank is Taylor Carrick, who is the second lowest player on the list at #658.
Andreas Herrera is the highest at #158 and the Colombian is followed by eight players ranked between 200 and 300 in the world.
Ramasra managed to break into the top 150 during a short professional career over a decade ago and is the most successful player to ever come out of this country.
The ten-time national champion was ranked No. 1 in the spotlight in the age group (35-39) at the European Squash Federation Masters when the sport was shut down for Covid-19 in March 2020.
Ramasra has not competed since, but he entered the National Championships in June, before withdrawing shortly before the start.
Thong and 2018 runner-up De Montrichard advanced to the quarter-finals of the Nationals.
Loquan and Augustine were also on the national team, which took part in the CASA (Caribbean Area Squash Association) Championship – the biggest tournament in the Caribbean – in August in Jamaica.
Lequay won the U-15 silver medal a month ago at Junior CASA.
National U-17 and 19 champion Thong was the U-17 bronze medalist at that event in Guyana.
Julian Chin, a Guyanese with native roots who plays in most tournaments in T&T and was crowned over-40 champion in his first outings in the veterans division at the Nationals four months ago, will fly the flag for his native country .
Jason Ray Khalil will also represent Guyana, and the other Caribbean player is Barbados’ ten-time national champion Shawn Simpson, who is the 16th and final seeded player.
The field also features three players from Colombia and Mexico, as well as two each from England and New Zealand and one each from Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
There was also supposed to be a women’s event, but all participants withdrew last month.
Barbados, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands are the Caribbean countries that have hosted professional tournaments over the years.
