Cayman’s duo of Cameron Stafford and Julian Jervis won gold on Tuesday at the Senior Caribbean Squash Championships taking place at the South Sound Squash Club.
They took the men’s doubles finals against Barbados, coming back to beat Shawn Simpson and Khamal Cumberbatch 2-1.
“It meant a lot to me personally,” Jervis told the Compass after his win. “This is probably the hardest I’ve ever trained. With all my people here in Cayman, I wanted to show that I can rise to the occasion.”
But he couldn’t have done it without Stafford, with whom he won a historic gold medal in the plate final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“It’s been a joy ride,” Jervis said. “Cameron just has a skillset that’s matched by only three or four players in the world. So having him as a partner feels like a cheat code. Meanwhile, I’m always confident in my abilities.”
Those abilities proved enough to best the Bajans in a closely fought match.
Cayman lost the first game 11-7, and came back to take the second game by the identical score. In the final game of the match, the Caymanians were losing 5-2 before they rallied to score nine straight points, eventually winning 11-5, backed by a supportive home crowd.
“Every rally went on for four to five minutes, which is really long,” Jervis added. “It is a blessing to play with him and [I’m] very grateful.”
The tournament, in which 90 athletes from seven countries are competing, runs through Saturday, 26 Aug., with several other Cayman players trying to add to the medal tally.
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