T&T's badminton team was spared a fine by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's world governing body at the World Junior Badminton Championships in Nanthan, China, on Monday.
However, they were not so lucky on the court, going down to both Denmark 110-45 and the United Arab Emirates 110-47.
The country faced sanctions of up to US$5,000 if they did not field a team at the championships, as financial issues prevented a team of 10 from representing the country. But despite fielding just three players, the country was spared the fine and was permitted to take the courts, allowing each player to play four matches.
They also faced a new scoring system that saw the accumulated scores replacing a player's scores for each set. It uses an 11-point scoring system, where 10 games, not full matches, will be played. The team that reaches 110 points first wins the game.
Vishal Ramsubhag, one of just two men's players on the team took the court first but was beaten in the men's singles 11-3 by William Bogebjerg.
In the second men's singles, Jace Smith also went under to Salomon Adam Thomasen. The accumulated score at that time was 66-29 in favour of the Danish team.
Later in the men's doubles, the combined forces of Ramsubhag and Smith still could not make a dent on the court, as they surrendered to the Danish duo of Robert Nebel and Otto Reiler in the first game. In the second match, the T&T team succumbed to defeat to the team of Phillip Kryger Boe and Jakob Clausen Jessen.
Later, the country surrendered all its points in the women's doubles via the walk-over route as Samiya Karim was the lone female player in the tour. However, when she took the courts in the women's singles she was beaten twice by Kajsa Van Dalm, the accumulated scores, respectively 33-12 and 88-37.
Karim later paired with Ramsubhag and Smith for the mixed doubles, but they lost in the first to Clausen Jessen and Anna-Sofie Nielsen (44-18) and then Robert Nebel and Jasmin Willis (99-42).
Against the UAE, the T&T players were also beaten in all the games.
Here are the main features of the relay scoring system:
The first match will be played to 11 points (change of ends at 6 points).
The second match will start at the score of the first match and continue from that score, however with the losing player/pair of the first match having a minimum of 5 points or the actual number of points scored, whichever is higher.
Every subsequent match will be played for the next 11 points from the score of the previous match. The trailing player/pair will start with their actual number of points, or a minimum of a multiple of 5 (5 for the first match, 10 for the second match, 15 for the third match and so on), whichever is higher.
Thus, the second match will play until one of the players/pairs reach 22 points (change of ends at 17). The third match will start at the score of the second match and continue from that score; however, with the trailing player/pair having a minimum of 10 points or the actual number of points, whichever is higher.
The ninth match will play until one of the players/pairs reach 99 points (change of ends at 94).
The 10th and final match will start at the score of the ninth match and continue from that score, with the trailing player/pair of the ninth having a minimum of 45 points or the actual number of points, whichever is higher.
The 10th match will play until one of the players/pairs reaches 110 points and thereby wins the tie (change of ends at 105).
No player shall play in more than four matches.
In case the same player is playing two consecutive matches, they shall not be allowed any additional rest.
