Guyana’s Junior National Badminton team, currently competing in the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) tournament, secured five bronze medals on Saturday morning, after missing the mark in their respective semifinal events.
As is the custom in most racquet sports, progression to the semifinal stage automatically guarantees a bronze medal in spite of a win or loss in the semifinal; such was the case with the Guyanese team.
After playing his way into the semifinals the day prior Ethan Bulkan guaranteed himself of a medal by reaching that stage of the Boys’ Under 13 division. However, Bulkan lost to Suriname’s Nathan Fernandes 21-8, 21-16, missing out on the gold medal match.
The Under-19 Boys’ doubles team of Frank Waddell and Xavio Alexander
Fortunes were the same for Mishka Beharry in the Girls U17 division as she lost to Suriname’s Jade Asmoredjo 21-14, 21-5, thus securing bronze. Also getting their hands on bronze medals was the pair of Anjaneysa Godette and Riyo Alexander in the Girls’ U11 doubles after missing out against Miley Schmeltz and La- Fay Stenhuijs of Suriname 21- 10 21-9.
The Under- 19 doubles events were on to watch, with both Guyanese pairs going down to three sets in pursuit of a spot in the gold medal match, but unfortunately still fell short.
Ethan Bulkan
In the Boys’ U19 doubles, Frank Waddell and Xavio Alexander had earlier secured their semifinal berth with a 21-16m 21-19 victory over hosts, Aruba. However, fortunes were not the same when the Guyanese met with Jamaica’s Daniel Ford and Barbados’ Shailon John in the semifinals. There, the Barbadians got the better of the Guyanese 21-13, 13- 21, 17-21.
Then, Leshaunte Berkley alongside Gabrielle Felix came up against Arianne Downes and Kaila Walcott of Barbados, with the latter winning the three- set match, 8-21, 21-15, 15-21.
A 20-member Guyanese team competed at the CAREBACO Regional tournament, being hosted in Aruba. The Guyanese competed in Boys’ and Girls’ categories from Under- 11 to Under 19 divisions.
The Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) received support from the likes of Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited, Ming’s Products & Services Ltd, Vikab (Guyana) Limited, Pritipaul Singh Investments, Lodge Alpha #1594 S.C, MVP Sports, GUYOIL, Hand-in Hand, Mr. Joe Jagmohan of Innovative Mining Inc, Mr. Deen Hassan and Staff of Tesouro Resources and Gray Wolf Resources, Mr. Ernesto Cho of Total Solutions, Mr. & Mrs. Bhagwandin of Veero’s Enterprises, Abdulaah Wazidali, Andrew Pollard, Jason Stepney, Christina Kumar and the National Sports Commission, to make the trip to Aruba.
