Poor officiating was partly to blame for Bermuda's 2-1 loss to Guatemala on Monday night at the Pan American Squash Championships.

Island Director of Squash, Ross Triffitt, said had key decisions gone their way Bermuda might have been looking at a 2-1 victory in their favour.

As it was it meant there was a lot of pressure on the team to beat Venezuela last night in the final match in their pool, having already lost to Canada on Sunday.

Triffitt rested Mel Caines at the event in Quito, Ecuador, putting out his strongest side of James Stout, Nick Kyme and Tommy Sherratt.

Stout, playing at three, was the first on court and lost the opening two games to D.Asturias 2-9, 5-9. However, he rallied in the third to win it 9-4 before going down in the next 5-9 for a 3-1 loss.

Kyme, the Island's number one, played J.Martinez and came away with an excellent 3-0 victory (10-8, 9-1, 9-2).

Sherratt, at two, played the key rubber and ran his heart out in the opener for a 10-9 win. But the climate clearly began to tell, sapping his energy levels and he lost the next three games 3-9, 3-9, 4-9.

"James was a bit disappointed with his loss because he didn't play quite as well as he has in the rest of the tournament," said Triffitt. "He did quite well to win that third game and put in a lot of effort. But it was a very difficult match under a lot of pressure and the umpiring and officiating left a bit to be desired.

"It's difficult to play a match like that and come out second best when there were some diabolical decisions."

Sherratt was able to come out with his head held high after his defeat, Triffitt said.

"Tommy played extremely well in the final match because with the rubbers tied at 1-1 it came down to him," he said. "He basically put everything into that first game which he won 10-9 after about 35 minutes.

"After that he really didn't have any gas left in the tank. He did pretty well at the beginning of every game to try and hang in there and win but the guy was just far too fit."

lStop press: Bermuda beat Venezuela 2-1 last night and will qualify for the Pan Am Games if they beat Ecuador today. If not they face a further three matches to secure a top nine finish.

Full report in tomorrow's paper.