The Guyana Badminton team in Aruba managed to capture five bronze medals at the Caribbean (CAREBACO) Junior tournament, wrapping up a decent all-round outing.
Ethan Bulkan was the first to medal, losing out to Surinamese Nathan Fernandes in a 0-2 match. The latter moved on to the final with his 21-8, 21-16 defeat of Bulkan, but despite the loss, Bulkan was guaranteed a bronze medal.
Similarly, Mishka Beharry lost her Girls U17 semifinal to Suriname’s Jade Asmoredjo in sets of 21-14 and 21-5. Again, even though the Guyanese lost, Beharry was guaranteed a bronze medal.
Meanwhile in the Doubles segment, Guyanese duo of Riyo Alexander and Anjaneysa Godette had to settle for bronze in the Girls U11 Doubles, losing their semifinal to Surinamese pair of Miley Schmeltz and La-Fay Stennijs. They were blown away 21-10 and 21-9.
On the other hand Xavio Alexander and Frank Waddell turned in a fighting performance in the semifinal of the Boys U19 Doubles category in a three-set thriller against Daniel Ford and Shailon Johnson.
Alexander and Waddell came out of the blocks blazing and captured the first set 21-13, a fight down to the end. Despite losing the first set, Ford and Johnson rebounded remarkably to even things up with a mirror 21-13 win in the second set.
With a spot in the final on the line in the third set, the Guyanese duo fought well but were outdone 21-17 in the end, coming away from the encounter with a bronze medal.
Leshaunte Berkley and Gabrielle Felix much like Alexander and Waddell before them, also played out an exciting three-set semifinal in the Girls U19 Doubles bracket.
After Berkley and Felix suffered a 21-8 first set drubbing, they came back hard in the second set, tying things up with a 21-15 defeat of the Barbados pair of Arianne Downes and Kaila Walcott.
The third set was another hard-fought affair but eventually the Bajans came out on top 21-15 to relegate the Guyanese to a bronze medal.
After the matches, the Guyana Badminton Association through its President Emilia Ramdhani expressed heartfelt gratitude to Team Guyana and noted that they were proud of each athletes’ performance in Aruba.
