Mason Smith clinched Bermuda’s first gold medal at the Junior Caribbean Area Squash Association Championships when he won the boys under-13 competition in George Town, Cayman Islands, on Tuesday.

Top seed Smith, a two-times champion in the under-11 age group, took 22 minutes to overcome second seed Ethan Bulkan, of Guyana, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.

Micah Franklin, the head of squash at the Bermuda Squash Association who is coaching the island’s team with Anaya Smith, applauded the 11-year-old for maintaining his composure.

“It was a fantastic display of squash and a mature performance from Mason Smith,” Franklin said.

“It wasn’t easy for him, he had to go through a lot of ups and downs to win that match. We’re really proud of him for focusing all the way through and getting the job done.”

As the No 1 seed in his first year in the under-13 age group, Smith received a first-round bye. He made a poor start in the second round before overcoming Barbadian Ethan Cyrus, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-1 in 24 minutes.

In the semi-finals, Smith swept past Finn Graham, from Barbados, 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 to book a spot in the final.

Ben Sherratt, the runner-up on both occasions when Smith won his two under-11 titles, picked up bronze. Having lost to Bulkan in the semi-finals, Sherratt defeated Graham 3-0 in the third-place play-off.

In an all-Bermuda affair, Owen Rosorea overpowered William Frith 3-1 when the two met in the third-place play-off in the boys under-17 age group.

Gabrielle Turchiaro lost out on a bronze after she was beaten 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 by Jamaican Sanjana Nallapati in the girls under-19 third-place play-off.

At the conclusion of the individual competition on Tuesday, Franklin expressed satisfaction with the manner in which the island’s players applied themselves since arriving in Cayman.

“I’m pleased with how our players performed in their individual competitions,” he said.

“Obviously our star performer was Mason Smith. I’m really proud of Mason for getting us a gold medal and Owen Rosorea and Ben Sherratt for getting us third place, I’m really happy for them.

“The event has been hard. It’s been days of squash and they've all given it maximum effort just like I expected them to.

“We are now moving over to the doubles starting on Wednesday. That will be followed by the team event until the action comes to an end on Saturday.”