By Emmerson Campbell in Birmingham, England
Natalie Cummings recorded Guyana’s highlight performance of these Commonwealth Games so far when she served, looped, and smashed her way to the women’s singles Round of 16 following a seven-game thriller with Ruqayyah Kinoo of Mauritius.
On a chilly evening at the National Exhibition Centre here in Birmingham, England, the pair provided quite a bit of fireworks during their marathon racket duel, but Cummings held her nerve to historically progress to the Round of 16.
After being knotted at two games apiece, Cummings went ahead in the fifth game 11-5 and was seemingly coasting to victory. However, Kinoo came storming back and tied it once again with a big 11-6 win to send the match to a deciding seventh game. Nevertheless, Cummings showed her mettle and mental toughness and came from behind to snatch the decider 12-10. It was the first time a local paddler had progressed to the round of 16 after tennis was added to the Games in 2002.
The male pair of Christopher Franklin and Shemar Britton also added their names to the history books by booking a place in the men’s doubles Round of 16 after defeating Kinoo’s countrymen, Brian Yook and Muhammad Baboolall 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6).
Meanwhile, at the start of the day in mixed doubles action, Chelsea Edghill and Britton got Team Guyana off to a winning start against the pair of Connie Siffi and Gary Nuopula from the Solomon Islands, downing their opponents 3-1.
After dropping the first game, the local pair rallied to win 7-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-4.
Edghill and Britton were then matched up against Malaysians, Xin Ai Tee and Shen Wong, but could not replicate the winning effort. After losing the first two games, 4-11, 4-11, they rebounded with an 11-8 win in the third game but could not keep the momentum and lost 11-2 in the fourth game.
Here is a breakdown of results for the Guyanese paddlers on Day 7 of CWG 2022…
Mixed Doubles
Chelsea Edghill/Shemar
Britton (Round of 64)
Won 3-1 (7-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-4) versus Connie Siffi and Gary Nuopula of the Solomon Islands
Lost 3-1 (11-4, 11-4, 8-11, 11-2) versus Xin Tee and Shen Wong of Malaysia
Jonathan Van Lange/Thuraia
Thomas (Round of 64)
Lost 3-0 (7-11, 5-11, 7-11) versus Chee Leong and Ho Ying of Malaysia.
Natalie Cummings/Christopher Franklin
Won 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-8) versus Jai Chauhan and Carolyn Li of Fiji.
Lost 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-4) versus Fu Nam and Jeremy Hazin of Canada in the round of 32.
Men’s Doubles (Round of 32)
Christopher
Franklin/Shemar
Britton
Won 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6) versus Brian Yook and Muhammad Baboolall of Mauritius
Joel Alleyne/ Jonathan Van Lange
Lost 3-0 (2-11, 5-11, 6-11) versus Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of India
Women’s Doubles (Round of 64)
Chelsea
Edghill/Natalie
Cummings
Won 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10) versus Carolyn Li and Grace Yee of Fiji,
Women’s Singles
(Round of 32)
Chelsea Edghill
Lost 4-2 (2-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-13, 11-3, 12-14) versus Offiong Edem of Nigeria.
Natalie Cummings
Won 4-3 (11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10) versus Kinoo of Mauritius
Badminton
Meanwhile, in badminton over at NEC Hall 5, Narayan Ramdhani fell to his men’s singles opponent, Ying Xiang Lin of Australia.
The standout local shuttler lost in straight sets, 12-21, 8-21 and exited the Games.
Squash
At the squash courts at the University of Birmingham, the campaign of Ashley Khalil and Mary Fung-A-Fat came to an end after losing their women’s doubles match.
The New Zealand pair of Joelle King and Amanda Landers proved too much for Khalil and Fung-A-Fat, bettering the locals 3-11, 8-11.
