Silver medal spoils for Guyana in T&T championships

Guyana’s senior male and female table tennis teams have proven their worth as one of the best in the Caribbean, coming up just sets short of gold medals in both the male and female team competitions.
The 60th Caribbean Table Tennis Federation (CTTF) Senior Championships in Jamaica brought together several Caribbean countries and allowed them to show off their talents in the racket-wielding sport.
Beginning their campaign earlier in the week, the male team consisting of Shemar Britton, Joel Alleyne and leader Christopher Franklin stormed through the group round to face Barbados in the semi-finals. The team achieved a mountainous feat as they rebounded from a 0-2 deficit to defeat Barbados 3-2 thus making their way into the final.
The final match pitted them against the skilled Dominican Republic team. Unfortunately, Franklin was the first to be demolished by Emil Santos in a straight win for the Dominican 11-4, 11-7, 11-2. Alleyne was made to test his skills against Isaac Villa 6-11, 5-11, 4-11. Despite also losing to Santos 6-11, 8-11, 8-11, the 20-year-old Britton showed his worth in his encounter with reigning Caribbean Men’s Singles Champion Samuel Galvez. Galvez was one up with an 11-6 set, but Britton took the second 11-7 and later lost the third 9-11. Nevertheless, he persisted with two more sets 12-10, 11-5 for the win.
The 3-1 result meant that the Guyanese males would walk away with the silver medal.
A similar fate was in store for the female team consisting of Chelsea Edghill, Trenace Lowe and Natalie Cummings. Their semifinal trampling of Trinidad and Tobago ended in a 3-0 victory for the Guyanese affording them the opportunity to play the Dominican Republic in the final.
Lowe began her campaign against Eva Brito with a set win of 11-8, but her opponent expertly bounced back, taking three consecutive sets 5-11, 4-11, 5-11 for the win. Edghill, despite her wealth of experience, was unable to overcome Yasiris Ortiz, with the Dominican winning 4-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13.
The toughest fight came from Cummings who made Esmerlyn Castro fight hard for her win. Cummings took the first and third sets, 11-6 and 11-8, but Castro got the better of her with three sets 6-11, 6-11, 8-11.
Following their silver medal feat, the mixed doubles pair of Franklin and Lowe returned to cop another silver in their category. The duo met Dominican Republic’s Isaac Villa and Esmerlyn Castro in an encounter which they lost 8-11, 10-12, 5-11, thus missing out on the gold.
The Guyanese contingent also racked up two more medals this time in the women’s doubles. The pairs comprising Edghill and Cummings and Jody-Ann Blake and Lowe were defeated by the Dominican Republic’s Brito and Ortiz and Castro and Dhyana Rojas to settle for bronze medals.