By Emmerson Campbell in Birmingham, England
Natalie Cummings’ historic run at the Commonwealth Games here in Birmingham, England came to an end yesterday at the National Exhibition Centre, however she plans to build on her newfound confidence.
Cummings had teamed up with Chelsea Edghill and dominated South African opponents, Zodwa Maphanga and Jayavant Patel, 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, to progress to the women’s doubles Round of 16.
However in the last do-or-die match for Team Guyana’s table tennis outfit, the duo was outclassed 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 by Australia’s, Chunyi Feng and Yangzi Liu which ended the campaign of both players yesterday.
Prior to that encounter, Cummings, 33, created history by becoming the first local paddler to qualify for the Round of 16 since table tennis was introduced to the Games in 2002, following a marathon thriller against Ruqayyah Kinoo of Mauritius on Wednesday night.
She then faced Wales tennis phenom, Anna Hursey, but was outplayed, 11 – 4, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 to end her participation in the women’s singles category.
In an exit interview, the southpaw racquet wielder told this publication that despite failing to mount the podium steps, her play exceeded expectations and she is now more motivated to continue to build on her progress ahead of the South American Games scheduled for October in Paraguay.Meanwhile, over at the University of Birmingham, siblings Ashley and Jason-Ray Khalil progressed to the squash plate final after recording a 2-0 victory against mixed doubles opponents, Jade Pitcairn and Jade Kelly of the Cayman Islands. The Khalils finished their encounter 11-6, 11-10 to set up today’s plate final against Sri Lankan pair, Shamil Wakeel and Chanitham Sinaly at 18:00 hours.
