Shemar Britton aced the opening rounds of the men’s singles with two wins
The Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships headed into the singles’ division where, unfortunately, most of the Guyanese athletes did not find favour on Thursday evening and Friday.
Shemar Britton, however, was a shining star, picking up back-to-back wins in the men’s singles’ division. He began his campaign on Thursday evening with a decisive victory over Aruba’s Shaofeng Xie: 11-7, 11-2, 11-5; then followed up with a win over Barbados’ Mark Dowell in a thrilling four- setter: 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9.
There were other wins on the cards for the Guyanese athletes, as the likes of Chelsea Edghill and Nathalie Cummings rebounded from opening losses. Edghill’s opening draw was a tough one, pitting her against Dominican Republic’s Eva Brito, to whom she lost 11-9, 11-9, 12-10.
However, Edghill fought back in her second game to take down Cuba’s Rosalba Aguiar 11-9, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9.
Chelsea Edghill pulled off a thrilling win against Cuba in the women’s singles
Nathalie Cummings was tasked with taking on Puerto Rico’s Fabiaola Diaz in her first assignment, and she lost to her opponent 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6. However, she was on top of her game against Trinidad and Tobago’s Jordan thong, whom she defeated 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7.
In other singles’ fixtures, young Jasmine Billingy went down to Cuba’s Estela Crespo and Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheann Chung. The match against Crespo ended 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, while that against Chung ended 11-9, 11-4, 11-3.
Fortunes were the same for Thuraia Thomas, who could not get going against Dominican Republic’s Yasiris Ortiz and Antigua and Barbuda’s Stuti Kashyap. Ortiz beat the Guyanese 11-3, 11-5, 11-4, while Kashyap did the same 11-1, 11-4, 12-10.
The remaining Guyanese men also missed the trick in both games. Joel Alleyne lost to Puerto Rico’s Oscar Birriel 11-4, 11-8, 11-3, and later to Aruba’s Rudy Raga 11-5, 11-9, 11-6.
Elishaba Johnson went down to the Dominican Republic’s Abit Tejada 11-4, 11-6, 11-3, and was later defeated by Jamaica’s Rohan Lewis in a keenly contested game 13-11, 7-11, 9-11, 9-11.
Niran Bissu also fought back in his second fixture, but did not find favour. In his first game, Bissu lost to Tyrese Knight of Barbados 11-6, 11-1, 11-5, and was later defeated by Emani McPherson of Jamaica 11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 7-11.
The Senior Championships continue today with men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles and the knockout stages of the men’s and Women’s singles.
