Guyana’s racquet wielders playing in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia, endured a tough opening day, as both the male and female teams lost to top-seeded England in the opening round of matches.
On the male side of the table, Guyana’s southpaw Shemar Britton, coming off his recent good form, lost the opening match against David McBeath 5-11, 5-11, 6-11.
Christopher Franklin suffered a similar faith when Englishman Samuel Walker served his way passed him 11-4, 11-3, 11-4.
The English team then completed the 3-0 sweep when Paul Drinkhall and McBeath defeated Britton and Nigel Bryan lost straight sets 11-1, 11-7, 11- 5 in the doubles matchup.
The ladies were also lamenting their tough draw after also surrendering their opening match 3-0 to England.
Natalie ‘Speedy’ Cummings first took to the table for Guyana, and lost 5-11, 5-11, 3-11 to Tin-Tin Ho.
The inform Trenace Lowe then pressed Kelly Sibley in the second set before losing 9 -11, eventually succumbing 3-0, as she dropped the others sets, 2-11, 6-11.
Cummings then teamed up with Junior Caribbean bronze medalist Priscilla Greaves in the doubles match, where they were defeated 1-11, 5-11, 3-11 by Sibley and Maria Tsaptsinos.
The team’s coach Idi Lewis in summing up the opening day pointed to Guyana’s misfortune, of receiving such a tough draw. He nevertheless indicated that Guyana was still in the reckoning for a place in the round of 16 should they come out on top in the next round of matches.
“Today, we faced two world-class teams,” the coach pointed out.
“England’s men are all professional players in Europe and finished third in the World Cup, a few months ago,” Lewis noted, while adding, “but despite that, my players, both the men and women gave a good account of themselves and I’m pleased and satisfied with their performances.”
“Tomorrow we’re in a must-win situation against Vanuatu – a strong team from Oceania and also ranked sixth, while we’re at 11, but I think we have a great chance of upsetting them.
“The men also face a tough and higher ranked Ghana, but I like our chances of defeating them and making it into the round of 16,” the optimistic Lewis told Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview.
