Jamaica excited about Pan Am squash qualification

Jamaica Squash (JS) is still basking in the excitement of achieving its objective of qualifying for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, following the Pan Am Qualifier in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Debutant Declan James earned a bronze medal in the individual competition, while Jamaica placed eighth in the team event. That performance was enough to secure automatic qualification for the Pan American Games.

James said that “it’s an absolute honour to represent Jamaica for the first time. It feels like it’s been a long time coming over the last couple of years, getting everything prepared for that moment. A great feeling, a really warm welcome from the team, Karen and Joey (Joey Levy, JS vice-president) and everyone. It kind of felt like not playing for a new team, which is, I suppose, the best thing that I can say about the whole experience.”

James’ journey to his first medal for Jamaica began with a first-round bye. He then defeated Guyana’s Daniel Carl in straight sets, 11-7, 11-1, 11-3, in just 25 minutes.

The third round proved more challenging, but James rose to the occasion, needing almost an hour to overcome United States player Shahjahan Khan 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7. He followed that with another straight-sets victory in the quarterfinals, defeating Guatemala’s Josue Enriquez 12-10, 11-2, 11-6.

His run ended in the semifinals against Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas, who won 11-8, 11-4, 11-3. Cardenas is ranked No. 12 in the world and was the tournament’s second seed, while James is ranked No. 23 and was seeded third.

“The tournament was really well run, and we achieved the goals that we set out to get a medal in the individuals and to qualify as a team for the Pan Am Games next year. We certainly accomplished that, and that’s obviously massive for me personally and for the team getting to the Pan Am Games in Peru next year, which is obviously the qualifying event for LA28, so a really good trip overall and can’t wait for the next event representing Jamaica,” said a pleased James.

His teammates were Chris Binnie, the multiple-time All Jamaica champion and internationally ranked player who came out of retirement to help Jamaica qualify for the Pan American Games; 2024 All Jamaica champion Lewis Walters; and national representative Tahjia Lumley.

Jamaica received a bye in the opening round of the team competition and then defeated hosts Paraguay before being stopped by Mexico in the quarterfinals, eventually finishing eighth overall.

Jamaica Squash president Karen Anderson was delighted with the team’s performance.

“As we knew that Pan Am Games in 2027 was in Lima, Peru, and we had been approached by Declan James to represent Jamaica. We knew that it was a massive opportunity for us to try and make those qualifiers in Asuncion in Paraguay in 2026 and so we had to put a strong team around him so that we could try and qualify because the only way you can qualify for Pan Am Games is through the team event and so we had to put a really strong team around him in order to participate and try and get a spot, one of 10 spots, to represent at the Lima-Peru Games in 2027.

“There were two goals: one to medal individually through Declan, and then to qualify for the Pan Am Games in 2027 through our team, our men’s team entrance, and so we were able to do that. We had a lot of interesting challenges leading up to this, but all’s well that ends well, and so we’ve qualified, and we’re very excited about being able to participate in Pan Am Games in 2027 in Lima, Peru.”