Sports
Jonathan Ramnanansingh
TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Under-15 boys’ team were swept 3-0 by Puerto Rico in the team semi-finals at the Caribbean Youth Table Tennis Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on April 24.
Alexander Perez bettered Shekel McIntosh in the first game 11-9, 5-11, 12-14, 11-5, 11-1. Alexander Tejada beat Josiah Joseph 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 in the second and Dariel Del Roasario trumped Jonathan Cottoy 11-4, 11-1, 11-5 to seal the win.
Earlier on, TT clawed back from two matches down to emerge 3-2 victors over Jamaica in their group one opener.
After McIntosh and Joseph went down to Jamaicans Logan Royes (4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4) and Gmarco Smith (11-4, 17-15, 11-5) in the first two matches, Cottoy pulled one back with an 11-9, 12-10, 11-5 triumph over Kamaul Ferguson.
Joseph returned to the table and levelled the tie with an 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 win over Royes. In the decider, McIntosh did well to stave off Smith by producing an 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 victory.
In the girls’ equivalent, Guyana swept TT 3-0 as Jerisse Elder (1-3), Lyllana Boodhan (2-3) and Jannah Mohammed (0-3) were bettered by their South American rivals. They return on April 25 to battle Jamaica in their other group match.
Additionally, the Under-19 girls also lost 1-3 to Puerto Rico. Chloe Fraser provided a winning start with a 3-0 result over Alahia Medina.
However, TT lost the next three matches as Imani Taylor-Edwards went down 0-3 to Kristal Melendez, Priyanka Khellawan was beaten 0-3 by Gilianie Avila and Fraser was thumped 0-3 by Melendez.
TT’s Under-19 boys’ team also lost their quarter-final tie against Guyana 1-3. Nicholas O’Young lost the first match 0-3, but Malik Gopaul drew level in the second to win 3-0. Samuel Humphreys lost the third 2-3 and Gopaul the fourth, by a similar margin.
Action continues on April 25 with all Trinidad and Tobago players beginning their respective singles’ campaigns.
