Team Guyana got a jump on the competition at the inaugural table tennis competition at the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) last weekend in Suriname where they convincingly swept both male and female categories.
This year’s IGG did not include the participation of French Guiana and as such was dubbed the Inter-Guiana Goodwill Games (IGGG) between Suriname and Guyana. This year’s competition also marked the debut of table tennis as a sport to be played during the games. Other sports that are played at the IGG level include Chess, football, volleyball, swimming, track and field, basketball and cycling.
In their table tennis debut, team Guyana overpowered Suriname in commanding fashion to win the team tournament. Even in an impromptu singles tournament (not for IGGG points), Guyana triumph reaffirmed its dominance with Shemar Britton winning first place while Elishaba Johnson and Kyle Edghill copped third and fourth respectively.
The boys’ team which comprised Britton, Edghill and Johnson scored a 3-0 win against Suriname in the boys’ team event. Edghill defeated AdeshJawahir in straight sets (11/8, 11/6, 11/5), while Britton overcame KonoAbas 3-1 (11/4, 11/8, 9/11, 11/4) and Johnson humbled Mitchel Tamrin (11/5, 11/1, 11/6).
The girls were even more convincing, winning all their matches as well as the doubles encounter in straight set fashion. Guyana’s Kristie Lopes made light work of ReshmaRamdas (11/3,11/4,11/4), while Priscilla Greaves nearly zipped ZoueHooghart 11/1, 11/1, 11/0. The Greaves/Lopes combination was equally impressive as they took out Ramdas/Hooghart 11/1,11/1, 11/1.
