The Barbados and Caribbean Squash child wonder, Meagan Best, finally met her match, going down to a Guyanese more than twice her age in the regional championship Tuesday night to register her first defeat at a major tournament.
Battling in the final against 36-year-old Guyanese, Nicolette Fernandes, Best, 17, went under 2-11, -2-11, 5-11 for the Senior Caribbean Area Squash Association Women’s Singles Squash title at the Georgetown Club, Guyana.
Meagan, a child sensation who has trampled over all in her path regardless of age to become the Caribbean number one female entering the tournament as three-time defending champion, appeared to have wilted under the relentless attack of the Fernandes, a former five time champion and 2006 gold medallist at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Colombia.
It was Fernandes’ sixth Caribbean title and first since 2013.
In spite of the lop-sided defeat Best indicated at the end of the match that as a teenager she is still learning, describing it as, “a good experience for me”.
“She is very, very experienced. She knows how to work the court; she really had me running for my money, but I enjoyed it,” young Best said of her much more versatile opponent.
Owing to her age, Best has over the years been dominant in the juniors and seniors and just in July she picked her seventh Caribbean Area Squash Association junior championship title in Trinidad and Tobago.
