CAC Table Tennis Championships: Guyana men exit at group stage, shift focus to consolation round

Guyana’s men’s table tennis team failed to progress beyond the group stage of the ITTF Americas Central American and Caribbean Championships, finishing at the bottom of Group Three on Friday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Drawn alongside Mexico and El Salvador, the Guyanese were beaten 0–3 by Mexico before producing a more competitive showing against El Salvador at the Parque del Este, though it was not enough to secure advancement.
Against Mexico, Shemar Britton showed resilience despite a 1–3 loss to Dario Arce. Britton dropped the first two games 5–11 and 10–12, rallied to take the third 11–6, but Arce sealed the contest with an 11–4 win in the fourth. Elishaba Johnson started strongly against Marcos Madrid, claiming the opening game 11-8, but was overrun in the next three, 2–11, 4–11 and 4–11, to lose 1–3. Niran Bissu was also defeated in straight sets, going down to Jorge Buenrostro 5–11, 2–11 and 7–11.

Guyana showed improved form against El Salvador, with Britton leading the charge in a series of closely contested matches. He opened with a hard-fought 3–2 win over Jaime Galeano, recovering after a 13–11 first-game loss to take the next two 11–6 and 12–10. Galeano levelled with an 11–8 fourth-game win, but Britton secured the decider 11–5.
Jonathan Van Lange then faced Edgardo Sanchez but lost in straight sets 10–12, 3–11 and 5–11, while Johnson also went down 0–3 to Fernando Alfaro, losing 6–11, 11–13 and 1–11.
Britton returned to produce another strong performance, defeating Sanchez 3–2 in a tightly contested encounter. He won the first two games, 11–9 and 11–5; dropped the next two, 6–11 and 9–11; before closing out the match, 11–6, in the decider.
However, El Salvador secured the overall win when Galeano defeated Van Lange 3–1, taking the final match 7–11, 12–10, 11–9 and 11–9.
With their group-stage campaign concluded, Guyana will now compete in the consolation segment, where they are set to face St Vincent as they aim for a placement between ninth and 13th. A victory would see them meeting Barbados for a chance at ninth place, with the winner of that encounter advancing to face either Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago.
Attention will also turn to the individual events, with the men’s singles competition set to begin on Sunday. Guyana will be represented by Van Lange, Britton, Bissue and Johnson.