Queen’s College student Shemar Britton successfully defended his boys’15 and Under title before stepping up to capture his first 18 years and under title yesterday as the Guyana Table Tennis Association/National Sport Commission (GTTA/NSC) annual Mashramani tournament continued at the National Gymnasium.
The 14-year-old Britton raced to finals in both categories where he met and defeated promising 13-year-old campaigner Kyle Edghill on both occasions.
Their first meeting in the 15 and under final was a seven-set thriller after Edghill refused to let up for the first six sets, before Britton closed him out 4-3.
Edghill’s aggressive stroke play helped him overcome a two set deficit to tie the game at two sets apiece before he narrowly won the sixth set in dramatic fashion (13/11) to force the decisive seventh set. In the final set, Edghill again staged a remarkable comeback, to force the game to deuce but Britton managed to hold his composure and pull off the win (11-6, 11/9, 9/11, 7/11, 11/4, 11/13, 12/10).
When the pair met about an hour later in the 18 and under final, a timid, dejected looking Edghill took to the table, lacking the fire that he exhibited in the previous encounter. Conversely, Britton was teeming with confidence and won the first three sets convincingly 11/4, 11/3, 11/4, before Edghill stole the fourth game 15/13. Britton came right back in the fifth, regained his composure and concluded the match with a strong 11/8 victory.
Chelsea Edghill made light work of Akeicia Nedd in the girls’ 18 years and under final winning 4-0 in a match which lasted just about 15 minutes.
Priscilla Greaves emerged atop the round robin standing with four wins from five matches to win the girls’ 15 years and under title.
Kristie Lopes placed second in that category while 10-year old Salinas Jackman placed third and Nevaeh Clarkston placed fourth.
In what was a virtual final against Lopes, Greaves was down 0-2 in games before staging a remarkable come-from-behind win by taking the next three games.
The three girls who contested the 13 years and under category all finished with identical records (one win and one loss). After tabulating individual sets won, Lopes emerged atop that category while Jackman placed second and Clarkston third. Interestingly enough, Jackman defeated Lopes (3-0), while Lopes defeated Clarkston and Jackman lost to Clarkston.
Jackman dominated the girls 11 and under category, winning all her matches in the round robin competition, while Clarkston placed second, badminton star Priyanna Ramdhani placed third and Charlia Webb placed fourth.
Miguel Wong defeated Khalil Ninvalle (3-1) 8/11, 11/9, 11/4, 11/2 to win the boys 13 years and under title while Tyriq Saunders and Jeremy Singh were the joint third place finishers.
Saunders won the boys 11 and under category after defeating Terrence Rausch 4/11, 11/9 12/10, 11/5, while Kaysan Ninvalle and Nyron Bissu were the joint third place finishers. Ninvalle and Isaiah Layne were the only two competitors in the boys nine years and under category which Ninvalle won by dispatching Layne 11/8, 11/8, 11/3.
