The curtains came down Thursday night when national badminton player Candyss Odle Speirs and president of the Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) Gokarn Ramdhani won the women’s and men’s Open singles trophy respectively at the Cliff Anderson Sports hall.
“It was a good feeling winning this event for the third consecutive time despite the fact that I did not get to train due to the infant that I recently gave birth to,” Speirs told Stabroek Sport.
She added that she would be looking forward to defending her title again next year.
In the men’s semi-finals, Ramdhani defeated Renick Evelyn 21-19, 21-12 while Deodat Etwaroo edged Grandison Robinson 21-16, 20-22, 21-16.
In the women’s semi-finals, Speirs received a walkover from Ashley Khalil while Nadia Salick defeated Kristal Lisa Khalil 21-16, 21-15.
In the men’s singles final between Ramdhani and Etwaroo, the latter struggled to keep up with the seasoned Ramdhani who used his skills and experience to beat Etwaroo 21-19, 21-11.
In the women’s singles final, Salick was forced to take the runner-up trophy after Speirs defeated her 21-12, 21-13. Khalil was third.
Robinson defeated Evelyn 21-17, 21-7 for third place in the men’s singles competition.
Dr. Nicholas Waldron presented the trophies to the male and female winners and runners-up.
Ramdhani said that he was very disappointed that some of the former national players did not participate in the tournament, but he praised Robinson and Haymant Ramdhani, the only two seasoned players who competed.
Meanwhile, the Igloo Ice-cream Junior Under-11 and Under-19 singles tournament opened yesterday at the Queen’s College courts. The tournament will continue today from 10am until 4pm.
