Chelsea Edghill secured Guyana’s lone medal when she copped silver in the Girls 15-and-Under final of the Junior and Cadet Caribbean Championship that was held in Cuba. In the finals, despite a valiant effort against Idalys Lovett Valdez of Cuba who had training stints in Germany, Edghill lost 0-4.
Her journey in the championship started with victories against Ancelys Pichardo of Dominican Republic 3-0; Yesenia Lazo Zamaro (Cuba) 3-0; and her only lost in the group stages was against Cuban Anel Garcia 3-0. She advanced to the quarterfinal round as the second placed player in Group Four where she faced and defeated Germanis Aguero of Cuba 3-0. In the semifinal round, she had sweet revenge against Kircia Diaz of Dominican Republic who defeated her in last year’s edition of the championships 3-1.
Meanwhile, in the Boys 15-and-Under contest Guyana finished fifth behind Dominican Republic, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, and Cuba A. The countries behind them were Jamaica, Aruba and Suriname.
Against Aruba, Joseph Jonson defeated Allan Croes 3-0; Shemar Britton defeated Dirche Valentino 3-0; and Bryton Murray ended proceedings against Jean Pierre by a 3-0 margin.
Against Jamaica, Shemar Britton defeated Darren Chamber 11-7,14,12,9-11 – ,15- 13; Joseph Johnson narrowly lost to Simon Ho-On 8-11,11- 6,6-11,11- 9,10-12; Elishaba Johnson defeated Sean Wilson 11-8,13-11,8-11,11-8,11-6; and Shemar Britton closed proceedings with a 3-1 victory over Simon Ho-On 11-6,9-11,11-9,11-6. Against Dominican Republic, Bryton Murray lost 0-3 to Enmanuel Lazano, Joseph Johnson lost to Andre Bertencia 0-3, Shemar Britton in an outstanding performance defeated Jefferson Almazar 3-1.
The team then lost to Cuba B and Trinidad and Tobago by a 0-3 margin; Shemar Britton, Elishaba Johnson, Bryton Murray and Joseph Johnson lost by close margins. Godfrey Munroe, General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), said the results are fairly good considering that the players are competing against higher financed and more exposed players.
He went on to say that with the outstanding Jamal Duff being absent from the 15-and-under team, the team was weakened. Also, several of the 15-and-under players are eligible for the 13 and under which can put pressure on them. (Melinda Bishundyal)
Comments are closed.