The T&T trio of Luc O'Young, Derron Douglas and Jalen Kerr all advanced out of their round-robin group stages when the 23rd Caribbean Region Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) Cadet & Junior Championship continued with Singles competition in La Habana, Cuba, yesterday.
Competing in the Junior Division, Group One three-player series, O’Young defeated Jamaican Malique Rose 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 and Cuba ‘B’ Carlos Fernandez 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 to end with a perfect 2-0 record and top spot.
However, in Group Five, T&T's Javier King fell to Noel Almonte of Dominican Republic 12-10, 8-11, 5-11, 7-11 and Cuba ‘A’ Ovidio Sanchez 5-11, 6-11, 6-11.
The lone T&T player in the Junior Girls was Ackayla Lucas who failed to progress out of
Group One, after she was outplayed by Dominican Republic’s Cynthia Sanchez 1-11, 3-11, 5-11 and Cuba ‘A” Roselis Perez 1-11, 4-11, 2-11.
Douglas and Kerr both ended with 2-1 win loss records in their respective Cadet Boys qualifying groups to move into the knockout stage as group runners-up.
In Group Three,Douglas defeated Dominican Republic’s Andres Lora 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 but went under to Cuba ‘A’ Raonel Labrador 11-9, 3-11, 6-11, 11-7, 8-11 before he secured a knockout spot with victory over Azizi Johnson of Jamaica 11-3, 11-8, 11-7.
In Group Six, Kerr had a similar pattern of results as he outplayed Dominican Republic’s Marcos Tavarez 11-7, 11-5, 12-10; stumbled against Cuba ‘B’ Eider Padron 5-11, 5-11, 5-11 but recovered to beat St Lucian Kenneth John 15-13, 11-7, 6-11, 11-6.
The lone T&T Cadet player missing out on the knockout stage was Luc's younger brother, Nicholas O’Young who overcame Aruban Bob Ho Chun Chung 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 but was beaten by Cuba ‘B’ Alvaro Morejon 7-11, 4-11, 7-11 and Cuba ‘A’ Adrian Perez 5-11, 3-11, 1-11 for third in the four-team pool.
