This country's senior men and women teams had to settle for third spot in their respective divisions of the Liebherr World Team Table Tennis Championship in Dortmund, Germany, yesterday. In the men's Fifth Division third place playoff for 99th spot, T&T needed a four-set victory from Terrell Abbott, over Jamaican Simon Tomlinson, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9 to seal a tense 3-2 triumph. Playing without star player, France-based Dexter St Louis, T&T took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series via Curtis Humpreys' 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10 win over Tomlinson but Abbott was then upstaged by Kane Watson 9-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-13 to leave both teams level at 1-1. Reeza Burke, president of the T&T Table Tennis Association who travelled with the team as manager/coach made an appearance for T&T in the absence of St Louis and got a default win over Samuel Lamont, however Humphreys could not close out the tie as went under to Watson 3-11, 7-11, 5-11 to set up the deciding clash where Abbott came through for T&T, the reigning Caribbean team champions.
The win over Jamaica was the second against a regional rival for T&T after it thrashed Barbados 3-0 in Thursday's quarterfinal. On Friday, T&T had suffered a 3-2 loss to Sri Lanka in the semifinals for 97t spot despite two wins from St Louis, over Nirmala Jayasingha 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 and Rohan Sirisena 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6. For the Sri Lankans, Sirisena defeated Humphreys 12-10, 11-7, 13-11, Silva Deshappriya stopped Abbott 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 and Jayasingha overcame Humphreys in the fifth and deciding encounter 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-5. In the final which was contested yesterday, Mongolia, the other team to beat T&T at the tournament edged Sri Lanka, 3-2. The local women's team of France-based Rheann Chung, nine-time national champion Aleena Edwards and 17-year-old Catherine Spicer secured third spot in the Fourth Division, 75th playoff after whipping Lebanon 3-1.
Chung, the step-daughter of St Louis led T&T with two straight sets victories over Tvin Carole Moumjoghlian 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 and Lara Kejebachian 11-7, 12-10, 11-2. Spicer got the other win for the reigning Caribbean queens' 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 over Rita Bsaibes while Edwards went under to Kejebachian 5-11, 8-11, 11-5, 4-11. In Friday's 73rd to 76th semifinal, T&T was stopped by Norway 3-2 with Chung once again getting two wins. Chung was dominant versus Marte Aasebo 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 and Marthe Nilsen 11-7, 11-2, 11-5. The loss to the Norwegians came after T&T won its 73rd to 76th position quarterfinal, 3-0 over Tajikistan earlier in the day. Chung brushed aside Aziza Karieva 11-6, 11-1, 11-2; Edwards outgunned Amiri Sumayai 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-4 and Spicer battled past Aziza Radzhabova 11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 12-10. (NS)
