By Donald Duff in St Lucia
For the second year in succession, the Guyana women’s table tennis team was forced to settle for the silver medal following their three games to one defeat at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago last night as the curtains came down on the final of the team events of the 51st annual Caribbean Table Tennis championships in St Lucia.
Trinidad owed their win in large measure to their France-based semi professional player Rheann Chung who won two games and Aleena Edwards who won the third.
The Trinidadians with the knowledge that the Poitiers player Chung would most likely win her two matches, gambled and played Edwards in the pivotal third position and it paid off as Edwards outlasted Guyana’s Natalie Cummings in five tough games at the Beausejour Indoor Facility.
Guyana’s Lowe had given her team a one-match lead when she easily overcame a game but outclassed Linda Partap Boodhoo whose facial expressions often times reflected amazement as some of the shots whizzed past her.
Lowe won 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.
Guyana’s wunderkind Chelsea Edghill was next on the table and showed that she was able to compete with the big girls, countering Chung’s loops and matching her opponent on many fronts.
But she had no answer to Chung’s world class backhand loops which left even the fair-sized crowd oohing and aahing.
Chung won 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 but Edghill had her moments especially in the second game. In the vital third game Edwards defeated Cummings 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9.
In the reverse singles match, Lowe was defeated 2-11, 8-11, 11-4, 7-11.
Following her defeat an emotional Cummings burst into tears and had to be consoled.
Up to press time the men’s singles final was in progress with Trinidad and Tobago against the Dominican Republic.
Chung said afterwards that she knew she had to win both matches depending on whether they had drawn the ABC or XYZ.
“If we had gotten either choices I knew I had to win both matches”, she said.
She added that the decision to play Edwards in the key number three position was taken by the coach.
She was playing quite well today so the coach decided to put her at that spot she said.
