Commonwealth Games 2022: Persaud shatters national record, table tennis women remain unbeaten

It has been a mixed bag of results for the Guyanese contingent competing in Birmingham, England on the first day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

There was a National Swimming record shattered, personal best times registered, a hot streak for the Table Tennis ladies and hard-fought disappointment for members of the Squash team on Friday.

Swimming
16-year-old Aleka Persaud continues to etch her name in Guyanese history, rewriting yet another swimming record. This time, it was the 100m Butterfly.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympian raced to a 1:07.24 win in Heat One of the 100m Butterfly preliminaries, and while her time was not good enough to advance to the next round of competition, it completely demolished the previous 100m Butterfly record, which Persaud had also held.
The previous record was set by a then 14-year-old Persaud at 1:08.53s, at the 2019 CARIFTA Games in Barbados.
According to reports out of Birmingham, Coach Sean Baksh has indicated that the Butterfly is not Persaud’s best event, and as such fireworks are expected from the teenager in the 50M and 100M Freestyle events.
Persaud also holds the national record in those events, with the 50m Freestyle record being 27.65s and the 100m Freestyle record being 1:00.69s.
Meanwhile, Persaud’s colleagues Paul Mahaica Jr. and Shekel Tzedeq have both registered personal best times on Friday. Mahaica’s achievement came in the Men’s 50m Butterfly, wherein he finished in 26.88s for 6th place in his heat.
Mahaica’s entry time for the race was 27.00s. And Tzedeq clocked 1:03.37 in his Men’s 100m Backstroke heat, bettering his entry time of 1:03.72s. His time was good enough for third place in the race.
Despite their excellent performances, both these male swimmers have been unable to advance.

Table Tennis
Guyana’s Female Table Tennis Team got off to a splendid start on Friday morning with back-to-back wins against Fiji and South Africa.
As a result of the two victories, the team, comprising Chelsea Edghill, Natalie Cummings, Priscilla Greaves and Thuraia Thomas, have secured their place in the Round of 16, but will play top-seeded India in their final group match.
The Women’s team defeated Fiji 3-0 and South Africa 3-2. However, the Men’s team was not as fortunate, suffering two tough blows on Friday.
First, the Men’s team, comprising Shemar Britton, Christopher Franklin, Jonathan Van Lange and Joel Alleyne, suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of home team England.
Later in the day, the team fought harder to pull two games back against Bangladesh, but eventually lost 3-2.
The Men will play their final group game against Fiji today.

Squash
For the sport of Squash, the Round of 64 Men’s and Women’s Singles commenced on Friday, and Guyana did not find much fortune in either.
Ashley Khalil was valiant in her encounter against Yeheni Kuruppu of Sri Lanka, but eventually lost 3-2 to her opponent.
The story was similar for Shomari Wiltshire, who also met with a Sri Lankan opponent. Though Wilshire was able to pull one back, Ravindu Laksiri enjoyed a 3-1 victory over the Guyanese.
For what to expect today from the Guyanese athletes at the Commonwealth Games, Patrice Mahaica and Aleka Persaud will hit the pool for the Women’s 50M freestyle heats. Patrice will compete in Heat 3, while Persaud will feature in Heat 6.
In squash, Mary Fung-A-Fat is scheduled to take on Kaitlyn Watts of New Zealand in the Women’s Singles Round of 32.
Meanwhile, Keevin Allicock will trade punches with Kenya’s Nicholas Okongo Okoth in a Round of 32 featherweight bout.