The top two seeded players, Vishal Ramsubhag and Travis Sinanan both made impressive starts to their Men's Open Singles campaign when the T&T Badminton Association Senior Round Robin Rankings Tournament served off at the National Racquet Centre, Orange Grove Road, Tacarigua on Tuesday night.
In Group A, top ranked Ramsubhag whipped Boodoo Sinanan 21-10, 21-13 and Doniv Pooran 21-4, 21-4 ahead of matches against Ananthu Somanathan and Alviero Alvada.
Somanathan beat Doniv Pooran 21-5, 21-7 and Sinanan won against Alviero Alvada 14-21, 21-17, 11-4 after the latter retired in the third and deciding set.
Second seeded Sinanan was also unbeaten at the end of teh first day in Group B after wins against Knickolas Mckenzie 21-12, 21-6; Verone Salick 21-8, 21-13 and in a key match-up Vance Juteram 21-14, 21-14 and will face Joshua Sinanan in his remaining match.
In the other Group B matches, Salick beat Joshua Sinanan 21-7, 21-8; Juteram outclassed Knickolas Mckenzie 21-6, 21-10 while the latter overcame Joshua Sinanan 21-4, 21-7.
Fourth ranked Mikael Joachim also had things his way Group D beating Deepak Ramdath 21-11, 21-12; Jarvid Aggan 21-7, 21-10 and Samuel Lewis 21-7, 21-9 and faced Rondell De Freitas in his final match last night.
De Freitas was also undefeated on Tuesday after he humbled Aggan 21-15, 21-11 and Ramdath 21-8, 22-20 while Ramdath beat Samuel Lewis 21-15, 21-17.
And in Group E, Leon Cassie, ranked fifth secured victories over Roger Moore 21-17, 21-9; Sheraz Nabbie 21-13, 17-21, 21-9 and Amrish Boodram 21-7, 21-6
Both Moore and Nabbie ended 2-1 and was set to battle for the second spot after winning their other matches on the night.
This was after Moore triumphed against Boodram 21-8, 21-13 and Vheer Samnarine 21-15, 21-16 while Nabbie beat Vheer Samnarine 21-17, 21-14 and Cody Daniel 21-13, 21-15.
Daniel topped Boodram 21-8, 21-10 and Samnarine beat Daniel 21-19, 21-7 in the other pool encounters.
However, in Group C, third ranked Kyrese Tobias faced an uphill task to reach the main draw after starting with a win over Sachin Phagoo 22-20, 21-17 before losing his next two matches against Jason Ramjass 24-26, 10-21 and Zamir Ali 21-17, 17-21, 13-21.
Ramjass also won over Che Pedro 21-17, 21-15 while Ali scolded Phagoo 21-3, 21-8 and Pedro rolled past Phagoo 21-15, 21-12.
A new men's champion will be crowned this year after last year's winner Reece Marcano did not registere for the tournament while in the women's singles, Chequeda De Boulet is the reigning champion and top seeded player.
In the 35 and Over Division Doubles, Shiva Persad and Anil Seepaul beat Wilson Reyes and Allan Young 21-10, 21-9 and Deepak Dawar, and Manimaran Kannan 21-12, 23-21.
Dawar and Kannan won against Javed Deen and Dharm Pal 21-12, 20-22, 26-24 while the latter pair overcame Reyes and Young 21-14, 11-21, 21-17. The tournament continues today from 5pm an will continue daily until Saturday, February 22.
