Hosts Cuba and rivals the Dominica Republic (DR) walked away with nine gold medals between them at the just-concluded 59th annual Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships.
In what can be considered an upset, the gold medal in the women’s singles category was won by Cuban Lisi Castillo over former Caribbean women’s singles champion Eva Birto of the Dominica Republic while Idalys Lovet of Cuba copped the bronze medal.
In what was a wide open field given the injury to Andy Pereira the top men’s seed of Cuba, Samuel Galvez of the Dominica Republic won the much sought after gold medal in the men’s category while Jorge Campos and Damian Juan Rondon both of Cuba place second and third respectively.
It was all Cuba and the Dominica Republic in the under 21 categories with Esmerlyn Castro (DR) winning the girls under – 21 singles from Lovet and Shelly Machado both of Cuba in that order while Livan Martinez and Carlos Hernandez both of Cuba, took the gold and silver in the boys under – 21 category with Isaac Vila (DR) placing third.
The Dominica Republic took the women’s team championships with Cuba and Jamaica completing the podium line-up. The male team’s championships, however, went to Cuba while the Dominica Republic and Puerto Rica earned themselves silver and bronze.
Cuba underscored their dominance in the competition after taking all three podium finishes in the women’s doubles category. They could have had another clean sweep in the male doubles playoff had it not been for the Guyanese pair of Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklyn who took the bronze medal which prevented the sweep.
The mixed doubles, on the other hand, went to Emil Santos and Eva Brito of the Dominica Republic while Andy Pereira and Lovet won the silver and the Dominican Republic pair of Vila and Cinthya Sanchez won bronze.
The women’s 45 and over category was won by Corinne Vaillant of French Guiana while Diane Chance of Guyana won the silver medal.
David Mahabir of Trinidad and Tobago won the men’s over 45 category while Adrian Hernadez (CUB) and Edgar Berridge (DR) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
