by Howard Walker

JAMAICA'S TOP junior squash player, Chris Binnie, finished second at the Philadelphia Junior Open Squash Tournament in the United States over the weekend.

The 16-year-old was beaten by the number one seed 18-year-old American Dru Blacker.

Binnie, Jamaica and the Caribbean's number one in the under-17 age group, stepped up to the under-19 competition and placed second out of 64 competitors, putting up a tremendous fight in the final against Blacker, finally going down 7-9 in the fifth game.

"It was a good experience, it was a tough game. He (Blacker) got lucky with a couple shots," said Binnie, who bypassed the under-17 division to take on the bigger boys.

According to Binnie, tournament director Bill Layne, who saw him in action last year, asked him to play in the Under 19 category "because that would help me better".

His coach, Noel McKrieth, agrees with the move.

FOCUSING ON STUDIES

Binnie, a Campion College student who started playing the game at age seven, will now be focusing on his Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) subjects before playing in the Caribbean tournament in July at the Barbados and St. Lucia Opens.

Last year, Binnie placed second in the Philadelphia Junior Open in February in the under-17 division. Prior to that he finished fifth out of 128 competitors in the US Junior Open in New Jersey in December 2004.

Binnie also performed extremely well in the Scottish Open 2004 and was only defeated in the round of 16 by number one seed, Peter Marti of the Czech Republic, who eventually finished third.

He then dominated the Caribbean in July, winning the under-17 title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championship in the Cayman Islands.

Meanwhile, Chris' sister Tracy also
competed in the under-19 girls category and reached the Consolation Final, placing sixth in the Philadelphia Junior Open Squash Tournament.

Two other juniors, Dane Schwier
and Dominic Cove, competing in their first overseas tournament, performed creditably and would have benefitted greatly from this experience.