South American Games…Mixed bag of results as squash, table tennis serve off

Guyana’s squash and table tennis teams at the South American Games in Rosario, Argentina experienced mixed results on Monday as the two disciplines commenced action.
On the squash courts, Ashley Khalil suffered an opening loss in the women’s singles round of 32. Khalil went down to Ecuador’s Maria Buenano 3-0 (3-11, 3-11, 5-11).
Fortunes were the same for Kirsten Gomes in the same division, taking on Chile’s Giselle Delgado. Delgado won 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-1).
However, Mary Fung-A-Fat kept hope alive in the division with a 3-0 win over Bolivia’s Michele Arnez. Fung-A-Fat prevailed 11-2, 11-4, 11-3.
Over in the men’s singles round of 32, Samuel Ince-Carvalhal was not as fortunate, losing in straight sets to Peru’s Rafael Galvez 6-11, 9-11, 6-11.
The script was the same for Nicholas Verwey, who suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Ecuador’s Javier Romo (8-11, 3-11, 5-11).

However, Daniel Ince came out on the winning side of his Round of 32 match-up with Paraguay’s Andres Acosta. Ince won 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-4).
The Guyanese were unable to find success in the doubles categories.
Ince and Fung-A-Fat teamed up for the mixed doubles, but were defeated 0-2 by Ecuador’s David Costales and Maria Moya (5-11, 2-11).
In the men’s doubles, Ince-Carvalhal and Verwey joined forces, but fell 2-1 (11-10, 9-11, 6-11) in a valiant effort, to Jeremias Azana and Roberto Pezzota.
Ince and Fung-A-Fat were scheduled to continue their campaigns in the men’s and women’s singles, respectively on Monday night.
In the table tennis arena, Chelsea Edghill and Shemar Britton suffered a mixed doubles round of 16 defeat, 3-0, at the hands of Santiago Lorenzo and Camila Arguelles of Argentina. Those sets unfolded 14-12, 11-5, 11-3 in the Argentines’ favour.
Britton later teamed up with Elishaba Johnson for the men’s doubles round of 16 but the result was, unfortunately, the same after a gritty contest with Uruguay’s Pablo Palou and Sebastian Timbal (1-3). The Uruguayan team took the first two sets 11-8, 11-7 before Britton and Johnson fought back in the third, 8-11. However, the Uruguayan duo would seal the match with an 11-7 win in the fourth set.
Today, the table tennis contingent will turn their attention to the singles’ events.