Caribbean Youth table tennis Championships: Guyana’s U19 Boys reap silver

The Guyana Under-19 Boys’ Table Tennis team, comprising Jonathan Van Lange, Colin Wong, Krystian Sahadeo and Umar Percival, had to settle for silver on Wednesday afternoon during the Boys’ U19 Team finals at the Caribbean Youth Championships.
Coming up against the Dominican Republic, Guyana’s team had the crowd support they needed at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, but their spirited efforts were overcome by their Spanish counterparts.
In the first match of the team final, Guyana’s Colin Wong faced Rafael Cabrera, and went down 1-3. Cabrera won 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, which was punctuated by a set victory from Wong, 12-10.

In the second match, Jonathan Van Lange led for the first two sets, but his opponent Ramon Vila pulled off a spectacular comeback. Van Lange won 12-10 and 11-7, but Vila won the last three matches 11-4, 11-8, 11-9.
When the third and eventually final game was played, Eduardo Darley won the first three sets on the trot to seal the gold medal. Darley defeated Guyana’s Krystian Sahadeo 11-5, 11-7, 11-6.
Following the game, Sahadeo expressed satisfaction with their silver medal finish.
“Quite happy with the silver medal, but I’m also disappointed with my performance,” Sahadeo shared.
The youngster went on to divulge, “Glad that we came out to pass the semifinals, knowing that we lost to Trinidad last year and we beat them in the semifinals this year. So, I’m glad about that. Losing the finals, that’s okay, because none of us have been training that much. So, we’re pretty happy with our performance.”
Sahadeo voiced his optimism for the upcoming singles’ events. “With the singles, we should get podium places. Yeah, I’m feeling confident about the singles,” Sahadeo said on the matter of the Singles’ competition.
The Caribbean Youth Championships will continue for the remainder of the week, and are set to conclude on April 1.