Mahfood claims historic treble at All Ja squash

Kingston, Jamaica:

Mary Mahfood created history by winning three of the four titles at the 2011 Allied Insurance Brokers All Jamaica Junior Squash Championships, which took place last weekend at Liguanea Club.

The 14-year-old was at the top of her game collecting trophies for the under-15, under-17 and under-19 age groups, thus becoming the first athlete to achieve this feat in the tournament's history.

In the under-15 category, Mahfood fought off a spirited challenge from Under-13 champion Alyssa Mullings to win 11-6, 14-12, 12-10. Both girls also faced-off in the under-17 final, where Mahfood was again victorious, this time 11-3, 11-8, 11-3.

However, it was in the finals of the under-19 division that Mahfood played her best, pulling out all the stops to beat her cousin, Lauren Mahfood, 12-10, 6-11, 6-11 12-10 12-10.

"I'm very excited and this makes me want to improve even more to be able to win titles at the Caribbean level and the international level," the triple champion said.

Mahfood also said that of all the matches she won throughout the three-day tournament, her victory over Lauren was the most significant.

Memorable match

"The match that stands out as the most memorable is the one for the under-19 title. Last year when I played Lauren I couldn't finish the match, I think it was mostly nerves, but this year I fought because I was determined to win," she said.

In the boys' competition, Ashante Smith scored a double victory, taking both the under-17 and under-19 titles. In the under-17 category, the red-hot youngster posted a straight sets win over Julian Morrison, beating the defending champion 11-5, 11-8, 11-6. Morrison bounced back to give Smith a harder fight in the finals of the under-19 section, but after a shaky start Smith rebounded to win 2-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-8, 12-10.

Reigning under-15 boys' cham-pion, Jake Mahfood, made light work of Cameron Anderson, scoring 11-1, 11-1, 11-4 to retain his title. And, in the boys under-13 competition, Stephan Morrison, beat Jonathan Walker 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 to win the championship.

Liscarl Bell, senior broker at Allied Insurance Brokers, the tournament's title sponsors, indicated that the company was pleased with the Championships.

Bell said: "We've gotten a good look at the future of Jamaican squash and it's clear that we have every reason to be optimistic.

"However, if we want our local players to break through to the next level it's going to take tangible support. Allied Insurance Brokers is proud to have made an investment and we would like to encourage other companies who support sports to consider investing in the game of squash," he added.