The Guyana national junior badminton squad finished superior to the 27-member Barbadian contingent in the first ever Guyana Classic International junior badmminton tournament which ended on Tuesday evening at the Queen’s College auditorium.
Guyana collected a total of 31 medals which included a whopping 13 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze during the course of the very competitive tournament.
Guyana managed to secure more medals than the Bajans because of their dominance in the younger category, but they were no match for the finely-tuned players of the flying fish island in the older categories.
Manager of the Barbadian delegation, Ryan Toppin, told Stabroek Sport that most of his side’s senior players had been nurtured from young adding that the experiences gained in this tournament would be very beneficial to their overall standard.
“Most of our senior players have had about 2-3 years of continuous training under our national coach and what we found here is that the Guyanese play a more attacking style of play but this was not a problem for our mature players who employed patience and superior defence which prevailed in the end.”
The young and fiery Guyanese players, however, were too much for the Barbadians and took the fight to them in almost every match.
Toppin also said that the younger players had only been training for this competition for the last eight months and may not quite have found themselves.
Guyana’s Narayan Ramdhani was in his element in the U-11 & U-13 categories winning six gold medals.
Not to be outdone, Barbadian Bradley Pilgrim collected five gold medals and one sliver in the U-17 and U-19 categories which he dominated.
Pilgrim’s only loss of the competition was experienced when he faced Dakiel Thorpe in the U-19 singles finals.
Nicholas Ali was also a top performer as he won the U-15 boys’ singles title and played a significant role on the victorious boys’ doubles and mixed doubled teams.
Results of the finals:Under -11
Boys Singles: Narayan Ramdhani(Guy) defeated Darius Ali(Guy) 21-12,21-12
Girls Singles: Rose Mendes (Guy) Defeated Amanda Haywood(Bar) 21-7,21-10
Boys Doubles: Narayan Ramdhani/Darius Ali(Guy) defeated Shane Martin/Michael Richard(Bar) 21-6,21-7
Girls Doubles: Rose Mendes/ Priyanna Ramdhani(Guy) defeated Kayla Beharry/Maya Persram(Guy)21-3,21-4
Mixed Doubles: Narayan Ramdhani/Rose Mendes(Guy) defeated Darius Ali/Priyanna Ramdhani(Guy) 21-17,21-10
Under-13
Boys Singles: Narayan Ramdhani(Guy) defeated Darius Ali(Guy) 21-8,21-12
Girls Singles: Asharnica Persaud(Guy) defeated Rose Mendes(Guy) 21-9,21-11
Boys Doubles: Narayan Ramdhani/Darius Ali(Guy) defeated Cory Fanus/D’Andre Thorpe(Bar) 25-23,13-21,21-14
Girls Doubles:Asharnica Persaud/Rose Mendes(Guy) defeated Priyanna Ramdhani(Guy)/Amanda Haywood(Bar) 21-3,21-12
Mixed Doubles: Narayan Ramdhani/Asharnica Persaud(Guy) defeated Darius Ai/Rose Mendes(Guy)21-7,21-19
Under-15
Boys Singles: Nicholas Ali (Guy) defeated Avian Rodrigues(Guy) 21-14,21-17
Girls Singles: Monyata Riviera(Bar) defeated Cherriann Fanus(Bar) 21-11,18-21,21-18
Boys Doubles Nicholas Ali/Avian Rodrigues(Guy) defaeted Shem Scantlebury/Carl Broomes(Bar)21-18,12-21,9-21
Girls Doubles: Monyata Riviera/Mikeila Carrington(Bar) defeated Lisa King/Cheeriann Fanus(Bar)21-16,21-19
Mixed Doubles: Nicholas Ali/Avashti Persaud(Guy) defeated Shem Scantlebury/Mikeila Carrington(Bar)21-10,21-18
Under-17
Boys Singles: Bradley Pilgrim(Bar) defeated Kelvin Mallett(Bar) 21-13,18-21,14,21
Girls Singles: Monyata Riviera(Bar) defeated Mikeila Carrington(Bar)21-18,21-15
Boys Doubles: Kelvin Mallett/Bradley Pilgrim(Bar) defeated Avian Rodrigues/Nicholas Ali(Guy)21-17,21-13
Girls Doubles: Monyata Riviera/Mikeila Carrington(Bar) defeated Trevonda Clarke/Kaela Stewart(Bar)21-13,21-13
Mixed Doubles: Bradley Pilgrim/Mikeila Carrington(Bar) defeated Kelvin Mallett/Kaela Stewart(Bar)21-18,21-14
Unedr-19
Boys Singles: Dakiel Thorpe(Bar) defeated Bardley Pilgrim(Bar) 21-18,21-19
Girls Singles: Cheeriann Fanus(Bar) defeated Lisa King(Bar) 21-19,12-21,12-21
Boys Doubles: Bardley Pilgrim/Dakiel Thorpe(Bar) defeated Javid Rahaman/Akash Persaud(Guy)21-10,21-14
Girls Doubles: Mikeila Carrington/Monyata Riveira(Bar) defeated Avashti Persaud/Shivannie Persaud(Guy)21-13,13-21,21-11
Mixed Doubles: Bradley Pilgrim/Mikeila Carrington(Bar) defeated Dakiel Thorpe/Lisa King(Bar) 21-16,21-11.
Former National Players, Grandison, Robinson, Peter Peroune and Anuj Singh, parents and senior vice-president of the GBA, Ramsey Ali, were among those presenting awards to the winners.
The tournament was sponsored by Jeffrey Wong, Andrew De Abreu, Sterling Products Ltd. Geddes Grant Ltd. Banks DIH Ltd,. and Auto Fashions.
