T&T men and women’s teams failed in their bid to secure this country’s first medal on Friday’s penultimate day of competition at the 63rd Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation Senior Championship at the National Gymnasium in Georgetown, Guyana.
This after the men’s team of Derron Douglas, Yuvraaj Dookram and Aaron Wilson were beaten 3-1 in their quarterfinal encounter with Barbados to fall short of a medal guarantee while the women’s team of teenagers, Chloe Fraser, Priyanka Khellawan, and Imani Edwards-Taylor did not advance from their round-robin three-team pool.
On Thursday in their Group Three opener, T&T men went under to the Dominican Republic 3-0 with Wilson and Douglas losing the doubles clash to Glenn Carrasco and Isaac Vila, 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, before Dookram fell to Samuel Galvez 11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 7-11, 7-11, and Douglas was overpowered by Vila, 12-10, 3-11, 8-11, 6-11.
However, in their final pool match, a virtual second-placed decider, T&T defeated St Lucia 3-1 with Douglas and Wilson beating Dawitt Nurse and Rawson Harris 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; Wilson beating Harris 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, and Dookram outplaying Nurse 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7 after he was beaten by De Andre Calderon 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 in his first match.
With a semifinal spot and bronze medal at stake on Friday afternoon, Barbados put an end to the T&T men’s medal hopes despite Douglas and Wilson winning the opener, 11-13, 11-17, 11-8, 11-2.
This, as Dookram was then outplayed by Tyrese Knight 11-9, 2-11, 7-11, 11-13; Wilson was upstaged by Mark Dowell 6-11, 9-11, 11-2, 10-12, and Douglas came up short against Knight, 5-11, 10-12, 6-11.
In the women’s Team competition, T&T was swept aside 3-0 by both Cuba and the Dominican Republic on Thursday, and Friday, respectively.
First, Cuba’s Idalys Lovet and Lizdainet Rodriguez beat 17-year-old Edwards-Taylor, and 14-year-old Khellawan 11-3, 11-2, 11-8 followed by Estela Crespo 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9 win over 14-year-old Fraser, and Rodriguez beating Khellawan 11-6, 11-6, 11-3.
In the clash with the Dominican Republic, the local trio also suffered a scolding with Esmerlyn Castro and Yasiris beating Edwards-Taylor, and Khellawan 11-6, 11-6, 11-2; Eva Britto, an 11-3, 11-6, 11-6 winner over Fraser and Ortiz 11-3, 11-1, 11-6 against Khellawan.
Prior to the Team events, the local quartet of Wilson, Douglas, Khellawan and Fraser were all beaten in their respective men’s and women’s singles round-of-16 matches while Edwards-Taylor and 33-year-old Yuvraaj Dookram did not advance from their round-robin pools.
In the Doubles, Wilson and Douglas reached as far as the quarterfinals in the men’s doubles while in the mixed doubles, Wilson and Edwards-Taylor and the pair of Fraser and Douglas were both beaten in the round-of-16 encounter. The women’s doubles pair of Fraser and Edwards-Taylor also fell at the last-16 hurdle.
Youth players take centre stage in Guyana
Despite their setbacks in the senior tournament, France-based Fraser and Edwards-Taylor will be hoping for much better fortune when they lead T&T’s medal hopes in the Caribbean Youth (Under-15 & U-19) Table Tennis Championship which will begin at the same venue in Guyana from tomorrow (Monday) until April 2.
In addition to Fraser and Edwards-Taylor, Mikah Stroude and Yzabelle Morris will comprise the U-19 girls’ quartet while Nicolas Lee, Jamali Mauge, Ameer Mohamed and Nicholas O’Young make up the U-19 boys’ quartet.
In the U-15 Division, Malik Gopual who has been training in France will combine with Gabriel John, Josiah Joseph and Sekel Mc Intosh and in the girls’ tournament, Fraser along with fellow France-based player Jordan Thong, Lyllana Boodhan, and Jinai Samuel.
The pair of Fraser and Thong are coming off of recent tournament wins in Treguier, France while Gopaul was a quarterfinalist.