Squash is a game you lose, not a game you win.

"It's a game of not making errors,” 54-year-old Chic Callas said. "When you make a lot of errors, you will lose. You make four or five errors in a row – that's a third of the game. You can't afford to give your opponent a third of the game.”

And that's just what Callas did.

Chris Cullingham edged Callas 3-2 in the Premier final of the Squash Yukon Season Opening Tournament held at Better Bodies Gym on Sunday.

Callas took a commanding two-game lead in the opening two games (18-20, 9-15) before Cullingham battled back to take the final three (15-12, 15-12, 15-11).

"It was tough,” Cullingham said. "There were a lot of unforced errors on both sides, and Chic is pretty dam fit. He works well and he's got good shots…he's really tough to play.”

Cullingham, 31, provided himself an opening with key shots in the third and fourth games.

But fatigue hampered both players in the fifth, he said.

"I think Chic was starting to get tired in the fourth game there, and then I think in the fifth game we were both tired, so it was anybody's game at that point.”Callas agreed.

"Losing the third game was a tough one, because I knew then that it would give him the energy. If I'd won the third then it would have been over, but I couldn't, because he played very well. So that's definitely a turning point; a person wins the third, then they're hungry, they're getting their confidence back,” Callas said.

Callas, who turns 55 on Oct. 23, said age was less of a factor.

The best player, if he or she plays properly, should control more of the T to keep their opponent running, Callas explained. When both players are evenly matched, however, both are forced to cover a lot of ground.

"And that's part of the game, the physical part of the game, but I don't think that's what beat me today; I think he got some very good shots at key moments, especially in that last game, he got some really nice shots when he needed them,” Callas said.

"I never give up, so there's no real turning point for me necessarily. I get discouraged sometimes with falling behind when I make a few errors in a row.

There was a few times when he got a couple blocks of four points in a row, and those are the ones that really hurt, because that's a quarter of the game.”

Callas sited tennis star Rafael Nadal's key stat: the Spaniard has a record of 155-1 when he's up two matches, he said.

"He just never loses when he's up two matches, and that sounds simple and easy, but lots of people come back when they're evenly matched. To be that mentally disciplined to win every time you're up 2-0 – certainly I don't do it,” he laughed.

"I was lucky enough to get a jump up on a couple, and then Chris came back in the third game, and me not trying to win, just trying to keep the ball in play and hope he makes mistakes. He made some, but not enough for me to win,” Callas added.

"And then he won the fourth and played very well in the fifth as well, so it was a well-earned victory for Chris as well.”

Cullingham has been playing squash for the past seven years, the last three of which were in Whitehorse.

The players get rankings based on how they finish in the Season Opening Tournament which helps make teams for the league.

"There's still a lot of players that didn't play in this tournament that I couldn't beat, that's for sure,” Cullingham said.

"I think I came in with the second most points, so I'll probably be somewhere in there.”

Both Cullingham and Callas went 3-0 in the tourney leading up to the finals.

Other finals results are as follows:

Premier Consolation

Mustafa Syed def. Zain Syed 3-1

Junior Main

Alysha Gullison def. Sana Syed 3-2

Junior Consolation

Cole McCulloch def. Alexis Benson 3-0

B Main

Kai Knorr def. Coleman Newell 3-2

B Consolation

Jarrod Chinnick def. Logan Harris 3-1

D Main

Share Knorr def. Joanne Heyes 3-2

D Consolation

Genevieve Camire def. Marie Maratos 3-0