– But Guyanese TT players fall by the wayside
By Donald Duff
A second Caribbean table tennis racquet wielder qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China in August on Monday at the Latin American Olympic qualification tournament currently underway in the Dominican Republic.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Dexter St Louis, a thre- time Caribbean men’s singles champion and France-based professional won four straight points against Mexico’s Marcos Madrid in the decisive seventh game to triumph 11-9 and book his ticket to Beijing.
It was the second day’s final of the qualifiers held in the city of Santo Domingo at the East Park Table Tennis Pavilion.
Following the win, St Louis “jumped onto the table, took off his shirt, threw it to a band of supporters and waved his hands around in a ritual that defied logical thought,” International Table Tennis Federation Publications Editor Ian Marshall wrote on the website.
St Louis joins Pan Am Games men’s singles champion Lin Jui of the Dominican Republic, Argentina’s Lui Song, Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro and Gustavo Tsuboi as qualifiers for the August 8-24 games.
But there was little luck for Guyana’s three-man team of Paul David, Matthew Khan and Colin France.
On the opening day Sunday, David advanced to the second round after defeating Jorge Pazos 4-0 on table one at 14.40am.
David won 11-6, 11-8, 11-3, 11-2.
Coming up against Venezuelan’s Henry Mujica, however, the US-based Guyanese racquet wielder lost 5-11, 7-11, 4-11, 6-11.
Khan lost 2-4 to Venezuela’s Luis Diaz 8-11, 13-11, 3-11, 7-11, 12-10 and 10-12 while France went down to Marcello Aguirre of Paraguay 4-11, 8-11, 9-11, 4-11.
On Monday France lost 1-4 to Mexico’s Milton Garcia 8-11, 4-11, 11-4, 5-11, 7-11; David lost to Mauricio Riveria of Colombia 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 8-11,9-11 and Khan lost to Chile’s Felipe Olivares 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 7-11, 7-11.
General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Munroe, said yesterday work commitments had prevented former Caribbean Men’s singles champion Sydney Christophe from participating in the tournament.
The Guyanese players were in action again yesterday while today is a rest day.
The action will continue tomorrow with the team events while the doubles players will swing into action on Saturday.
The tournament ends on Sunday with the awards ceremony.
