Binnie is top male squash player

Howard Walker, Staff Reporter

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-old Chris Binnie is now Jamaica's top male squash player after winning the Dougall Flooring Super Series last week.

Binnie, a student at Campion College, dethroned Wayne Burrowes as Jamaica's No. 1 player.

Binnie, seeded two, turned back the No.1 seed Burrowes 3-1 in the semi-finals before disposing of Steve Smith 3-2 in the final.

"It really means a lot to me to be No. 1 in the country with victories over Wayne and Steven. It feels like a great accomplishment," said Binnie.

DOMINATING

The youngster has been dominating the junior ranks in Jamaica and the Caribbean for the past couple of years and has had tremendous success at the international level.

Last year he finished second at the Philadelphia Junior Open in the United States where he was beaten by the No. 1 seed, 18-year-old American Dru Blacker.

Prior to that he finished fifth out of 128 competitors in the U.S. Junior Open in New Jersey in December 2004.

Binnie also performed extremely well in the 2004 Scottish Open and was only defeated in the round of 16 by No. 1 seed Peter Marti of the Czech Republic, who eventually finished third.

He then dominated the Caribbean winning the Under-17 title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championships in the Cayman Islands.

The top 12 players in Jamaica vied for national rankings in the Dougall Series over nine days with round-robin group matches in two groups of six. The top two from each group went through to semi-finals and final.

The official Jamaica rankings are as follows:

1. Chris Binnie

2. Steve Smith

3. Wayne Burrowes

4. Anthony Dougall

5. Chris Bicknell

6. Andrew Mahfood

7. Bruce Bicknell

8. Warren Burrowes

9. Karen Anderson

10. Joey Levy

11. Kyle Chin

12. Tommy Lee