The top seeds have come good at the 2015 National Masters Squash Championships.
It will now be a showdown of the “Marks” in the Men’s Over-40 final after Mark Gilkes and Mark Sealy dominated their semi-final contests at the Barbados Squash Club yesterday.
Top seed Gilkes, a noted footballer, hockey player and cyclist, advanced to the final after Don Benn retired at the start of the third game while trailing 13-11, 11-3.
Gilkes will now face Mark Sealy, the number two seed, in a highly-anticipated final after Sealy downed 5/8 seed Terry Millar 11-8, 11-6, 11-6.
In the Men’s Over-40 Plate, Brian Lowe will face Mickey Armstrong in the final after contrasting victories over Martin Bryan and Paul Sealy respectively.
After a slight blip in the in the third game, Lowe defeated Bryan 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, while the gritty Armstrong came back from two games down against Sealy to win a nail-biting finale 8-11, 6-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-6.
Staying in the Men’s Over-40 Plate for positions fifth through eighth, Sylvester Nurse defeated Peter Harris in straight games 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
In the Men’s Over-50 category, upsets were the order of the night as top seeds Edwin Wickham and Craig Archer were ousted in the semi-finals.
Wickham, who was enjoying a strong tournament, was defeated by Dean Straker 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, while Archer was beaten by Cliff Nolan in three close games 11-8, 11-9, 15-13.
In the lone semi-final of Men’s Over-50 Plate, Michael Best defeated Frank Jordan 11-3, 11-5, 11-5.
In the round-robin of the Men’s Over-60, number two seed Ruairidh Mackenzie toiled for two impressive victories, the first over Monty Cumberbatch 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10, then over Chester Haynes 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8.
Among the ladies, tops seeds Andrea Goodridge and Lynn De Cambra-Mcleod recorded victories over Jo Haywood and Lucyla Seale respectively, while Michelle Burke-Bynoe defeated Coral Farley. All ladies matches were played in a round-robin format.
The 2015 National Masters Squash Championships conclude this weekend.