A fairly young Guyanese badminton team ventured to Markham, Canada last weekend to participate in the Li Ning BWF World Juniors Mixed Team Championships; and at completion of that tournament, the players received one of the best rewards yet.
Team captain Priyanna Ramdhani is locked in a fierce battle
After an impressive showing by the Guyanese contingent, comprising of Priyanna Ramdhani (captain), Akili Haynes (vice-captain), Tyrese Jeffery and Jayde DaSilva, Guyana jumped to the 32nd spot in the Badminton world raking in a pool of some 175 countries.
Guyana’s achievement was made even more remarkable when it was taken into account that Guyana is now ranked higher than much more developed countries, such as New Zealand, Poland, Mongolia, Uganda, Australia, Macau China & Slovakia, who are ranked between 33 and 40.
Regarding this stellar achievement, a statement from the Guyana Badminton Association noted: “This is a very good achievement for us, and we showed that we can stand up to the competition of the international players from around the world, although our team is quite young.”
On the last day of competition, the Guyana team maximised their successes with several outstanding performances. One such performance came from team captain Priyanna Ramdhani, when she came up against Krisha Ghia in the women’s singles division. Ramdhani won the encounter 21-13, 21-13.
Another riveting win for Guyana came in the Boys’ doubles, where Tyrese Jeffrey & Akili Haynes came up against Kenya’s Urjan Omit Shah & Ujval Omit Shah. The mixed doubles team final stage 25-32 fourth place play-off showdown ended in Guyana’s favour, 21-19, 21-16.
In other outstanding matches of the mixed tournament, Priyanna Ramdhani proved to be a tough and equally skilled opponent for Singapore’s Lee Xin Yi Megan in their 18-21 encounter. Priyanna showed similar grit in her second game, this time against Raphaela Winkler of Austria, in their matchup which finished 16-21, 13-21.
The 16-year-old continued her show of grit and determination against Megan De Beer of South Africa with scores of 22-24, 14-21.
Tyrese Jeffery also contested fiercely against Kilian Meusburger of Austria, their encounter ending 11-21.
The four-member Guyanese contingent will now shift their focus to the upcoming Li Ning BWF Individual Championships, which are scheduled to begin tomorrow, Monday November 12, 2018.
