The Badminton fraternity served off a grand Open Doubles competition on Friday, June 22, at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue. It acted as a celebration of World Olympic Day 2018.
With a typically good turnout, the competition saw the usual dominators vying for prizes and bragging rights.
The opening night of the competition saw action in the Men’s Open Doubles, Ladies Open Round Robin Doubles, and the Men’s Open Consolation Doubles tournaments. In the Ladies Open Round Robin segment, National Ladies Junior Champion Priyanna Ramdhani found herself on the badminton court right after her graduation ceremony, teaming up with Greer Jackson to pummel each pair that dared to oppose them. They eased their way to victories against Christina Kumar & Shivannie Persaud 21-9, 21-8; Jayde DaSilva & Stephanie Sagar 21-14, 21-5; and Ayanna Wickham-Watson & Emily Ramdhani 21-8, 21-7 to cop the title of Ladies Doubles Champions.
Meanwhile, Shivannie Persaud & Christina Kumar, whose only defeat came from the champions, went on to beat out Jayde DaSilva & Stephine Sagar 21-13, 21-15; and Ayanna Wickham-Watson and Emily Ramdhani 21-16, 22-20 for the second place spot. Ayanna Wickham-Watson & Emily Ramdhani managed to cop third place, after their win over Jayde DaSilva & Stephanie Sagar 21-3, 21-7.
The Men’s Doubles category saw a little more action, as some of the more experienced players took to the courts. In round one, Javid Rahaman & Easa Sanichara defeated Sekhar Mallampati & Mahendra Sharma 21-7, 21-9; Ronald Chang Yuen & Akili Haynes overcame Johann Waldron & Isaac Mallampati 21-10, 21-15; and Marlon Chung & Darrell Carpenay defeated upcoming junior stars Matthew Beharry & Vikash Mootoo 21-6, 21-4.
National Champion Narayan Ramdhani joined forces with Jonathan Mangra to defeat veterans Dr. Nicholas Waldron & Gokarn Ramdhani 21-10, 21-8. Luck was later in their favour, as they gained a walkover owing to Javid Rahaman’s ankle injury, which left himself and his partner Easa Sanichara out of the remainder of the competition.
In the other semi-final match, Marlon Chung & Darrell Carpenay overpowered Ronald Chang Yuen & Akil Haynes 21-16, 21-15.
In an expected turnout, Narayan Ramdhani and Jonathan Mangra beat out Marlon Chung & Darrell Carpenay for the Men’s Doubles championships.
Other matches played in the consolation rounds were: Gokarn Ramdhani & Dr. Nicholas Waldron defeating Sekhar Mallampati & Mahendra Sharma 21-14, 21-7; and Johann Waldron & Isaac Mallampati overcoming Matthew Beharry & Vikash Mootoo 21-14, 21-18.
Olympic Day is annually celebrated worldwide on June 23rd under the pillars “Move, Learn, Discover”.
