From Emmerson Campbell in Suriname
Guyana’s table tennis players excelled while the badminton, chess and volleyball players suffered mixed fortunes when Inter Guiana Games (IGG) action continued here in Paramaribo, Suriname yesterday.
Here are the highlights of Day Two for the disciplines:
Table tennis
Guyana’s foursome led by Elishaba Johnson dominated the hosts and their French counterparts on their way to sweeping the gold medals for each category.
Playing in front of the top brass of the NSC at the Anthony Nesty Sporthal, the local racquet wielders, Kyle Edghill, Priscilla Greaves, Johnson and the pint sized Selenas Jackman did not disappoint and earned the praises from those in attendance.
In the gold medal men’s singles, Johnson defeated French Guiana’s Dominic Banai in straight sets 12-10, 11-6, 13-11.
Edghill was not as flawless but he overcame Jean-Christophe Cognet in a hard fought game (11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 4-11, 11-8) which went down to the last set.
Edghill and Johnson then paired to serve up a victory in the boy’s doubles 11-9, 11-9, 11-2 against Cognet and Banai.
Greaves and Selenas were just as effective, winning their individual games and the girl’s doubles against the French sisters, Diana and Maria Fatal 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6.
Before the gold medal round, Guyana’s table tennis players disposed of the Surinamese in straight sets in each of their respective games.
Elishaba Johnson in action yesterday. (Orlando Charles photo)
Badminton
National badminton player Narayan Ramdhani earned the individual honours in the men’s singles then teamed up with Jonathan Mangra to win the men’s doubles.
Bouyed by the home crowd at the KNTS-Chinese Sporthal, the female hosts made light work of their counterparts in the singles and the doubles segments of the competition. Team Guyana also played second fiddle to Suriname in the mixed doubles.
After Captain Ramdhani, who was suffering from a neck strain, defeated his Surinamese rival Alrick Toney 21-16, 21-14, his sister Priyanna, an U-13 player, was then thoroughly outplayed by Suriname’s premier U-19 player Rugshaae Ishack 21-12, 21-12.
Ramdhani and Mangra then combined their talents to turn back the challenges of Kevin Lou and Patrick Vigilandzoon 21-13, 21-12 in the Boy’s Doubles.
In the Girl’s doubles Ambika Ramraj and Krystal Peters showed grit and determination but lost 12-21 and 5-21 to the more experienced Shemara Windveld and Santusha Ramzan.
A game Mangra and P. Ramdhani joined forces and won a nail biting first set 23-21 over Toney and Ishack.
However, the Surinamese won the second set 21-15, and rode their momentum into the final set to win 21-14.
With French Guiana unable to field a team this year, Guyana and Suriname will battle again today with the shuttlecocks at the same venue from 10:00 hours.
Action in the girl’s doubles yesterday at the KNTS-Chinese Sporthal. (Orlando Charles photo)
Chess
The four-member chess team won against French Guiana but save for Hifeng Su, all of the locals were checkmated by the hosts on a forgettable day at the Stardust Hotel.
Su drew his match up versus Calvin Tjonthjinjoe but Jessica Clementson, Roberto Neto and Shariffa Ali went down fighting.
Volleyball
Just like on Friday night at the Ismay van Wilgen Sporthal,the ground bound female team failed to impress and went down to French Guiana three sets to one.
On Friday, the locals were outplayed on every facet of the game versus Suriname and were grounded in straight sets 25-6, 25-4 and 25-14. The three day championships will conclude today.
