It’s been an up and down 2018 for Jamaican squash ace Chris Binnie.

While he started the year with the best squash ranking of his career, the 29-year-old slipped 18 places and suffered a mini-stroke in December.

“I had a big scare,” he said. But he “wanted… everyone to know that I am OK and will be completely fine moving forward.”

Binnie spent three days at the Greenwich Hospital, in Connecticut, USA diagnosed with Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), otherwise known as a mini-stroke.

TIA is caused by lack of blood flow to part of the brain from a blocked blood vessel. It usually persists for less than 24 hours.

“I am very young for something like this to happen to and that immediately triggered the doctors’ concern,” added Binnie.

“Everyone is born with a hole in their heart but most people’s close upon birth, some remain and usually are not an issue. After more tests were done, the doctors were even more unsure of the situation. Different tests continued to give conflicting results.

“Although this was not the best answer, it was still relatively good news. Bad news because they don’t know what brought on the TIA, but good news to know that medication will be able to prevent any future issues,” he explained.

“Even if my heart has a small hole in it or any complication, nothing can be done currently’ they say, and the medication is the best way forward. They are still running some tests and hopefully will have some more news for me in the coming weeks. It is a little unsettling that they were not able to figure out exactly what happened, but this plan moving forward is for the best. They have said I will be fine to continue playing squash and will get back into things after a couple weeks of rest.”

Binnie played 15 major tournaments in 2018, finishing as runners-up in two: the NASH Cup in Canada and the Pan American Championships in the Cayman Islands.

In the NASH Cup where he entered as eighth seed, Binnie lost to sixth seed Alfredo Avila of Mexico who won 8-11, 11-3, 7-11, 12-10, 11-2. The match lasted one hour and seven minutes.

At the Pan Am Champs, top seed Diego Elias of Peru took 42 minutes to dispatch Binnie 11-7, 11-8, 11-5 in the final.

An eight-time Caribbean champion ranked 65th in the world up to April this year, the Jamaican fell at the third round of the Commonwealth Games. His world rankings, thereafter, slid.

By the end of the year, Binnie was ranked 83 in the world.

The 6ft-3in player reached two semi-finals, which included the Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia where he lost to top seed and Colombian Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who won 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 in the 44-minute match.

Binnie also reached four quarter-finals and one third round during the year.

He is listed as a nominee for the 2018 Sportsman of the Year.