It was again joy and heart-break for some of members of the National Table Tennis team at the XXI Commonwealth Games being held in Australia.
The Guyanese shooting team Down Under from right, Lennox Braithwaite, Paul Slowe and Ransford Goodluck
The promising duo of Shemar Britton and Priscilla Greaves saw the pendulum swing both ways in the Mixed Doubles. They defeated Vanuatu’s Priscilla Tommy and Ham Lulu 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, & 11-6) in the round-of-64, however, in the round-of-32 they lost to Singapore’s Shao Poh and Lin Ye in straight sets (4-11, 2-11 & 5-11).
Trenace Lowe and Christopher Franklin went down to the host’s Trent Carter and Tracy Feng 4-11, 8-11 and 9-11 in the mixed doubles. Today, Lowe partners with Natalie Cummings to play Singapore’s Tianwei Feng / Mengyu Yu.
Troy Doris
Franklin partnering with Britton for their round-of-32 tie against India’s Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty 6-11, 5-11 & 7-11. Cummings and Nigel Bryan suffered a similar faith to Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheann Chung and Dexter St. Louis (10-12, 4-11 & 5-11).
Badminton
After steamrolling Saint Helena’s Vernon Smeed in the Round of 64 of the Men’s singles, Badminton star Narayan Ramdhani who is based in Canada on a scholarship lost to a Canadian.
Jason Ho-Shue won 2-0 as the games went 21-7 and 21-10 and lasted just ten minutes in the round-of-32 category.
Athletics
Priscilla Greaves
Olympian Troy Doris with a leap of 16.33m qualified for the Triple Jump final on Saturday after finishing second to Dominica’s Yordanys Garcia who leaped 16.75m on Wednesday evening. Heading into the event, Doris stood a strong chance of making the final cut and possibly medalling given he had a Season Best of 16.80m.
Rifle Shooting
In the sport of fullbore shooting even a flawless day can see you down the grid and this was exactly the scenario with Guyanese Lennox Braithwaite who did not drop a single point on day one of the Queen’s Prize Individual Finals.
The leading Caribbean marksman, shot possible at the 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges 35:2, 35:5, 35:3 for a total of 105:10 and even with such a performance ended the day in 8th place as seven other shooters also fired possible at each of the ranges but had more Vs.
Shemar Britton
Braithwaite’s partner in the Pairs competition where Guyana ended 11th of the sixteen competing nations and the top Caribbean country, Ransford Goodluck dropped 4 points and will go into today’s second day in the 25th place.
At the three ranges, Goodluck posted scores of 33:4, 34:0, 34:2 for a total of 101:6. In the top spot is Australia’s Jim Bailey (105:15) followed by New Zealand’s John Snowden (105:14) and Brian Carter (105:14) in 2nd and 3rd, David Luckman of England (105:13), Ben Emms of Australia (105:13), Jersey’s Barry Le Cheminant (105:12), Parag Patel of England (105:12) just ahead of Braithwaite.
Young Barbadian shooter Jason Wood is 23rd (102:4) two spots ahead of Goodluck. Jamaican Denis Nelson is 26th (99:6), Delborn Joseph of Trinidad and Tobago is next (98:7), Barbadian Richard Arthur (96:1) in 28th, Jamaican David Rickman (95:2) 30th, T&T’s Michael Perez (94:5) 31st with the Antigua and Barbuda duo of Desroy Maile (92:3) and Edworth Benjamin (85:4) in the 32nd and 33rd positions.
Braithwaite would be aiming to replicate Wednesday’s performance today while Goodluck will seek to emulate his countryman when they aim from the same 300, 500 and 600 yards ranges. Tomorrow would be a practice day and dress rehearsal for Saturday’s final two ranges, 900 and 1000.
