BIRMINGHAM, England — After securing safe passage to the round of 32 in the men’s singles competition at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, top Jamaican squash player Christopher Binnie is looking ahead to today’s test against India’s Ramit Tandon.

Binnie made light work of Ghana’s Evans Ayih, dropping only five points in his comprehensive 3-0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-3) victory in his opening-round match-up at the University of Birmingham Match Court.

The number 125-ranked Binnie will face a much tougher test against Tandon, who is ranked 36 in the world. The game is set to begin at 12:30 pm (6:30 am Jamaica time) at the same venue.

“It’s always good to get started. I am just happy I was able to get a win and, you know, practise a few things while looking forward to the next game. So I’m excited,” Binnie said.

“There were some nerves coming in to start off, so it’s good to get the first one; that will break through some of those nerves and then you can just kind of go with the flow.

Julian Morrison, Jamaica’s other competitor in squash, was overpowered by Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal 3-0 (5-11, 4-11, 3-11) in their men’s singles round of 64 contest, but he was nevertheless grateful for the experience of competing at this level and is certain it will help his game to develop.

“I think this is great for us to showcase that we are here as a squash-playing country, and being here to represent at one of the highest levels of squash is great for me personally because it’s one of my goals, one of my dreams to make it to this team to be able to play on a team to play doubles, to play singles competition and to be a part of the opening ceremony,” Morrison said.

“I really don’t get this kind of match experience as often in Jamaica because you don’t have that level of play as prevalent. You have Chris, you have me, you have Tahjia Lumley and the like, but they don’t get to play there as often. These are top players in the world’s top 20, top 50, top 10 — and to be able to play against them, that’s something that you can never replicate,” Morrison added.

— Andre Lowe