Guyana’s men’s table tennis team placed 10th at the Pan American table tennis championships in Lima, Peru, following their 2-3 defeat to Guatemala Thursday.
The team event was dominated by the brilliant Brazilians who won both the men and women’s finals.
The Brazil men’s team, led by the ITTF world-ranked number eight player Hugo Calderona, defeated Chile 3-1 in the final while the Brazilian women’s team stopped their counterparts from Canada also by a 3-1 margin in the women’s final.
The Guyana’s men’s team crashed out of the team competition after losing all three of the group matches.
They lost 0-3 to Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Argentina.
A 3-2 win over Barbados, saw them playing Guatemala for ninth place and, despite a brilliant performance from southpaw Shemar Britton who won both of his singles matches, the team went down fighting 2-3.
Britton playing second, scored a hard fought 3-2 win over Allan Guitterrez and then stopped Hector Gatica 3-1 to give the Guyanese a chance of their second team win.
However, national champion Christopher Franklin lost both of his singles matches losing 1-3 to Gatica and 0-3 to Guitterrez.
Guyana’s number-three player Joel Alleyne won the first two games in the pivotal third match against Sergio Carrillo but lost the next three games leaving the team to finish 10th. The Guyanese only win came against Barbados whom they defeated 3-2 despite Tyrese Knights picking up two games.
Knights first befuddled Franklin winning in straight games (3-0) and then returned to defeat Britton (3-1) after losing the first game.
However, Alleyne disposed of Ramon Maxwell 3-1 in another entertaining match and novice Tre Riley proved no match for Britton and Franklin losing 0-3 in both matches.
According to national coach Idi Lewis, who did not accompany the team, participating in the tournament would have reactivated the players’ world ranking points which help with singles qualification and seedings. Additionally, Lewis said that placing 10th would have assisted the men’s team’s Commonwealth Games qualification.
The men’s singles competition was won by Calderano with Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz winning the women’s singles.
Following are the results of the Guyana team matches
Puerto Rico defeated Guyana 3-0
Daniel Gonzalez defeated Franklin 11-6,11-5,11-2,
Angel Naranjo defeated Britton
11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 and Richard Pietri defeated
Alleyne 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6.
Ecuador defeated Guyana 3-0
Britton lost to Alberto Mino 7-11, 6-11, 5-11,
Franklin lost to Emiliano Riofrio 1-11, 7-11, 8-11 and
Alleyne lost to Diego Piguave 5-11, 6-11, 10-12.
Argentina defeated Guyana 3-0
Santiago Lorenzo defeated Franklin 11-0, 11-5, 11-5,
Francisco Sanchi defeated Britton 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 and
Gaston Alto defeated Alleyne 11-2, 11-7, 11-4.
Guyana defeated Barbados 3-2
Tyrese Knights beat Franklin 11-4, 11-8, 11-4, Tre
Riley lost to Britton 7-11, 6-11, 10-12,
Ramon Maxwell lost to Alleyne 13-15,11-9, 9-11, 9-
11, Knights beat Britton 8-11,11-4,11-6,11-2 and
Riley lost to Franklin 2-11,4-11,3-11.
Guyana versus Guatemala for 9-10 playoffs spots
Hector Gatica beat Franklin 11-5,12-10, 6-11, 11-4,
Gutierrez lost to Britton 8-11,11-7,11-2,5-11, 7-11,
Sergio Carrillo beat Alleyne 9-11,9-11,11-4,11-9,11-4,
Gatica lost to Britton 11-8,3-11,11-13,6-11 and
Guitierrez beat Franklin 11-8,11-7,11-9.
