Guyana’s Shemar Britton was forced to pull out all the stops yesterday in his round of 64 singles match at the International Table Tennis Federation’s Pan American Championships in Havana, Cuba yesterday.
Coming up against Peru’s Jeisson Martinez, the southpaw Britton found himself down 0-3, a game away from being eliminated but found the courage, the determination and the right tactics to haul himself back into contention before eking out a narrow seven-set victory. Britton won 5-11, 9-11, 4-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 to move into the round of 32 where he will play Jishan Liang of the United States of America who had a bye in the previous round. Guyana’s top female player Chelsea Edghill, however, lost her round of 64 match yesterday to Gabriela Suarez of El Salvador 3-4. Edghill won the first two games 11-8, 11-8, lost the next two 8-11, 8-11, won the fifth 11-7 and then lost the remaining two games 5-11, 5-11.
In the mixed doubles competition Edghill and Britton defeated Guatemala’s Hector Gatica and Mabelyn Enriquez 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 in the round of 32 but were eliminated after a 0-3 defeat to Brazil’s Vitor Ishy and Bruna Takahashi 2-11, 11-13, 8-11 in the round of 16.