By Kiev Chesney
Team Guyana are now relishing the glory of being champions of the 13th annual Caribbean Junior, Cadet Table Tennis Championships, when they clinched the overall title with two individual victories in front of their home crowd Monday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Entering the final day of competition on Monday in a race deadlocked with arch rivals Trinidad and Tobago the Guyanese and their twin-sialnd counterparts were engaged in spirited battles Monday evening in the race for overall title honours.
Both teams had grabbed four gold medals each and with four more titles at stake Monday evening it was Jamaica who was to strike first as Yvonne Foster captured the Under-15 girls’ singles crown ahead of Trinidadian Catherine Spicer.
Foster finished the tournament undefeated after getting past Spicer in four straight games and was awarded US$50.00 by President of the Nevis Table Tennis Association, Laverne Merritt, for her impressive play during the competition.
In the boys’ U-15 final, Nigel Bryan overpowered T&T’s number one player Khadeem Moore in the semi-final before exploding in the final to defeat Meshach Pillai in four straight games.
Guyana’s sixth title was all but guaranteed when two Guyanese, Trenace Lowe and Michelle John, duelled in a seven-game thriller, which was eventually won by John.
In the boys’ U-18 singles final, Trinidadian Kenwin Small managed to complete the tournament undefeated when he got past Don Walker-Petinaud of Jamaica.
Girls’ U-18 final
Just as predicted, John and Lowe met in the eagerly anticipated girls’ U-18 final, which went to the full seven games, living up to all expectations.
John captured the first game, 11-6, before Lowe came back and evened-up by winning the second game 11-9.
This see-saw pattern continued for the next four games, with the girls thrilling the crowd with exhilarating rallies and aggressive smashes.
With the match tied at three games apiece John ran away with an early 5-2 game in the seventh and final game.
Lowe refused to go calmly into the night and managed to draw within two points of John (5-7).
However, that was as close as John would allow her as a couple of forehand smashes catapulted John to an 11-5 victory to close-out Lowe 4-3.
After the game, John told Stabroek Sport that this victory was earned, in a match which she described as different from her other encounters with Lowe.
“Trenace and I have met on countless occasions before, but this was especially different because of the high expectations of persons around me to win the gold, especially since this is my last year as a junior competitor,” she said.
John also mentioned that the biggest challenge was trying to pipe down, hold her composure and maintain her focus as, she said, it was the only way to withstand the comeback attempts from Lowe.
Boys’ U-15 final
After comfortably defeating Moore in the semifinals, Bryan knew that he had an easy road towards capturing the boys’ U-18 title.
“I know that I will dominate in the finals because I already beat Trinidad’s best player in the semifinals,” Bryan told Stabroek Sport prior to the finals.
He proved to be a man (or boy) of his word as he quickly got rid of the 13-year-old Pillai in straight games 11-4, 11-0, 13-11, 11-7.
Bryan mentioned that this win was very special to him and was his second individual gold at these championships, after he captured his first in the mini-Cadet category in Trinidad two years ago. Obviously impressed by Bryan’s extraordinary skills that were on show throughout the tournament, Harold Hopkinson wrote a cheque for $50,000, while one of the umpires donated US$20 to the U-15 boys’ champion immediately following his win.
Boys’ U-18 final
Spectators were fully engaged in the gripping match between Jamaica’s Petinaud and Trinidad’s Small.
Seen by many as the most talented player in this year’s tournament, Small raced to a commanding victory against Petinaud, while only conceding one game to his opponent (11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4).
Eighteen-year-old Small said he had been able to compete at such a high level at this year’s championships because he had been training specifically for these championships for the past year in the hope of capturing his first individual gold.
Small also mentioned that he trained four to five hours daily for six to seven days per week.
