The Guyana Badminton Association/Trophy Stall doubles tournament got off to a scorching start Monday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The night’s action saw players facing off in the Open doubles and mixed doubles events. Names were placed into a bag before selecting partners for the mixed team.
Before the games commenced, a moment of silence was held for the late Gokarn Ramdhani, President of the Guyana Badminton Association and black sweat bands were handed out to each participant.
In the men’s doubles first round, it was a hard-fought win for Kristoff Shepperd and Kevin Hamilton over Manav Sharma and Jonathan Robinson.
Shepperd/Hamilton drew first blood with a 21-9 win in the opening set while Sharma/Robinson bounced back with a 17-21 win in the second set. However, Shepperd and Hamilton secured victory with a 21-12 win.
Also in the round, Easa Sanichara and Matthew Beharry eased past Andrew Browne and Andrew Browne 21-2, 21-3), (no relation) Anthony Stephens and Jaurel Hendricks beat Mahender Sharma and Jason Stephney (21-9, 21-12) while Avinash Odit and Grandison Robinson brushed aside Matthew Klautky and Matthew Singh 21-10, 21-5.
In the men’s quarter-finals, Narayan Ramdhani and Jonathan Mangra got the better of Anthony Stephens and Jaurel Hendricks 21-11, 21-7 while Sanichara and Beharry beat Chet Bowling and Zachary Persaud 21-10, 21-7. Marlon Chung and Priyanna Ramdhani defeated Kevin Hamilton and Kristoff Shepperd 21-4, 21-7 and Akili Haynes and Tyrese Jeffrey secured victory over Odit and Robinson 21-13, 21-14.
In the consolation men’s semifinals, Browne/Browne lost to Mahender Sharma and Jason Stephney 11-21, 12-21 while Klautky/Singh got the better of Sharma/Robinson 25-23, 21-17.
In women’s doubles quarter finals, Mishka Beharry and Priyanka Shivnauth advanced after beating Deandre Assing and Elesa Sangster 21-12, 21-9.
Ayanna Watson and Beharry beat Persaud/Sangster 21-5, 21-8 in the mixed doubles first round.
However, the duo could not get past Mangra/Persaud going down 19-21, 14-21 in the quarter finals. In that round, Marlon Chung and Ambika Ramraj defeated Tyrese Jeffrey and Christina Kumar (21-19, 21-23, 21-18) in a stiff contest while Narayan Ramdhani and Mishka Beharry beat Anthony Stephens and Anna Perreira 21-15, 21-15.
In the mixed doubles consolation semi-final, Jeffrey/Kumar won 19-17 in the first round over Stephens/ Perreira who retired before the second set.
The association expressed gratitude to Trophy Stall’s Ramesh Sunich for his continued support.
The tournament continues today from 17:00hrs at the same venue.
