France-based Malik Gopual and Chloe Fraser, Nicholas O’Young, and Priyanka Khellawan earned bronze medals after losing their respective Under-15 and Under-19 Mixed Doubles semifinals in the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation Youth (Under-15 & U-19) Championship at the National Gymnasium in Georgetown, Guyana on Thursday.
The two-bronze added to the three silver and one bronze T&T won in the Teams competition while Chloe Fraser and Jordan Thong are also through to the Girls Doubles semifinals in the Under-15s and are certain of adding another medal as well.
In the Under-15 Division Mixed Doubles, Malik Gopaul, and Fraser were handed a round-of-16 bye and in their quarterfinal, they defeated St Lucians Leshon Francis and Shatal Charles 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10 to reach the semifinal where they came up short against Dominican Republic’s Alexander Tejada, and Dafne Sosa 9-11, 8-11, 6-11 to earn a bronze medal alongside Dominican Republic’s Alexander Perez and Ysemeily Guerrero who were beaten in their semifinal by counterparts, Dariel Del Rosario and Arianna Estrella 11-13, 16-14, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11.
In the other matches, T&T’s Sekel Mc Intosh and Jinai Samuel won their round-of-16 match against Jamaicans Logan Royes and Keeara Whyte by walkover while Gabriel John and Thong overcame another Jamaican pair, Brian Blake, and Kayan Denton 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-2.
However, in the quarterfinals, Mc Intosh and Samuel were no match for Del Rosario and Estrella who won 5-11, 3-11, 4-11 while John and Thong were humbled by Tejada and Sosa 8-11, 9-11, 3-11.
T&T’s fourth duo of Josiah Joseph and Lyllana Boodhan were ousted by Perez, and Guerrero 7-11, 7-11, 4-11 in the opening round.
O’Young, Khellawan swept aside in Under-19 semis
In the Under-19 Mixed Doubles, T&T’s Nicholas O’Young, and Priyanka Khellawan stunned Dominican Republic’s Rafael Cabrera and Cinthia Pena 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-6 in their round-of-16 tie and followed it up with a 7-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 quarterfinal triumph over Jamaicans Joel Lamm, and Liana Campbell.
With the gold medal match a win away, O’Young, and Khellawan were then swept aside by Dominican Republic’s Ramon Vila and Vianelkis Fernanez 7-11, 12-14, 6-11 to settle for the bronze alongside Jamaicans Joel Butler, and Kelsey Davidson, losers against Dominican Republic’s Eduardo Darley and Shary Munoz in their semis, 2-11, 11-5, 5-11, 5-11.
Nicolas Lee and Imani Edwards-Taylor also started well, defeating Colin Wong, and Akira Wong of Guyana 13-11, 11-9, 11-7 in their round-of-16 tie before losing out to Darley and Munoz 2-11, 2-11, 4-11 in the quarters.
In the other T&T matches, Ameer Mohamed and Yzabelle Morris went under to Ramon Vila, and Vianelkis Fernandez of the Dominican Republic 5-11, 4-11, 2-11; and Guyana’s Jonathan Van Lange and Thuraia Thomas swept past Jamalli Mauge and Mikah Stroude 11-9, 11-4, 11-3.
T&T U-15 teams in Boys, Girls Doubles quarters
The T&T boys teams of Josiah Jospeh, and Sekel Mc Intosh as well as Malik Gopaul and Gabriel John were due to play quarterfinals, and the girls’ duo of Fraser and Thong are in the semifinals of their respective Boys’ and Girls’ Doubles after press time in the Under-15s while in the Under-19s, Khellawan and Edwards-Taylor met Jamaicans Kelsey Davidson, and Tsenaye Lewis; Morris and Stroude came up against Jamaica’s Liana Campbell, and Olivia Peterkin in quarterfinals; Lee and Mauge battled St Lucians Rawson Harris, and Joshua Lubin, while Mohamed and O’Young tangled with De Andre Calderon and Dawitt Nurse of St Lucia as well.
