T&T players ended their wretched debut campaign at the Pan American Junior Badminton Championships at the Olympic Gymnasium in Aguascalientes, Mexico, without a victory in either the singles or doubles competition on Tuesday night.
In the Under-19 Girls’ Doubles, Amara Urquhart and Kara Ashley Robertson were outplayed by Mexicans Aline Angel and Mayte Macias Marin 10-21, 5-11 in their last-16 clash, while in the Under-17 Girls’ Doubles, T’shelle Barnes and Aliyah Urquhart put up a valiant effort before going down to another Mexican pair of Sara Delgado and Patricia Gomez. 17-21, 17-21 in the round-of-16 as well.
Earlier on Tuesday, in the Under-19 Boys’ Doubles, T&T’s Yannic Inniss and Kaveer Ramoutar were overpowered by Michael Ji and Rayce Su of Canada 12-21, 10-21, while compatriots Vishal Ramsubhag and Jace Smith were ousted by Peru’s Marcelo Novoa Aservi and Fabrizio Valdivieso Negri 18-21, 8-21 in round-of-16 match-ups.
And in the Under-19 Mixed Doubles, T&T’s last hope of medaling Vishal Ramsubhag and Amara Urquhart received a last-32 bye before they were stopped by Mexico’s Juan Pablo Montoya and Isabella Puente 19-21, 13-21 in the round- of 16.
On Monday night, in the Mixed Doubles, Ethan Ramcharan and Barnes went under to Guatemalans Danilo Sebastian Lopez Herrera and Fatima Gutierrez 15-21, 10-21 in the Under-17 round-of-32, while Ramoutar and Kara Ashley Robertson were humbled by Peruvians Gonzalo Sebastian Castillo Salazar and Estefania Canchanya 12-21, 12-21 in the round-of-32.
The Anil Seepaul-coached T&T team, which made its competition debut, was coming off a record-breaking 56-medal haul at the 2023 Carebaco Championship and had high hopes of making a dent in Mexico, but following a lack of preparation due to the unavailability of training facilities at home, they were no match for their opponents, with their lone victory coming in the team event, a sixth-to-seventh spot playoff win against Caribbean neighbours Barbados, 3-0.
