Bermuda’s boys team finished third at the Caribbean Area Squash Association Junior Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Having finished second to Cayman Islands in the group stage, Bermuda faced the eventual champions St Vincent & the Grenadines in the semi-finals. With the result not going their way, they met Cayman again in the third-place play-off, which they won.

“We’re really happy and proud of how the team performed, especially at the younger age groups,” said Micah Franklin, the Bermuda Squash Association head of squash.

“Mason Smith and Ben Sherratt are still showing that they’re the strongest in the region, as well as Hugo Adams, plus some of those under-11 boys as well. I think we really have a strong base for the future there.

“On the older spectrum, we were really happy that Eli Carpol came out second place, unexpectedly. We didn’t think he was going to be able to beat that guy for the first time, and he did, so we are really happy with that.

“We were seeded one or two and came third. So maybe you could say that was a slight disappointment, but overall it’s a lot of squash on very hot bouncy courts.

“Anything can happen in the team event. We had a tough result against Cayman Islands, which pushed us into second place in the group.

“That meant we played the top team in the semi-finals, which we lost, then played a rematch against Cayman Islands in the play-off and beat them, so third place overall is not too bad.”

While the boys finished in the top three, the girls had a tough time in the team event where they were seventh.

“On the girls’ side of things, we knew we had low numbers,” Franklin said.

“That’s something that we have to work on internally, trying to build up those numbers for the girls.

“But having said that, we have a lot of younger girls who weren’t able to go on the trip, so we’re excited to have them come up the ranks.”

According to Franklin, the BSA has officially registered an intention to host the tournament next year, with the hope that it can materialise.

“We’re really hopeful that Bermuda can host the championships in 2027,” Franklin added.

“We’ve put in a bid for it, hopefully, we can have that move forward and we should know pretty soon.

“But having CASA in Bermuda would mean so much for the next generation too, because we can all now stay here and those kids who don’t always have a chance to travel will have first-hand experience of what CASA is like.

“They can keep their eyes set on a goal to try and accomplish for the future. So overall, I'm really happy and think that Bermuda next year here, if we can do it, will be an overall great outcome for squash and the island.”