Pre-tournament favourites Samara Sukhai and Jasmine Billingy yesterday crowned themselves and the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) in gold by winning the girls U13 team event at the Caribbean Table tennis Federation’s mini and pre-cadet championships at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In the final the duo, representing Guyana 1, defeated the Jamaican pair of Kayan Denton and Keeara Whyte by three matches to one.
The Guyana 1 boys’ team of Malachi Moore and Ebo Mc Neil narrowly suffered a nail-biting 2-3 defeat to surprise finalist St Lucia.
However, yesterday belonged to the Sukhai/Billingy combination. Considered the two best young prospects around, the win must have been of special satisfaction to GTTA President Godfrey Munroe, who in the absence of national coach Idi Lewis, who was with the South American Games teams, stepped up to the plate with special coaching sessions prior to the tournament.
Yesterday, Munroe and the GTTA was repaid in full. First it was Billingy who got the ball rolling by defeating Denton 11-7, 11-6 and 11-5.
Sukhai, though lost to Whyte 8-11, 8-11 and 4-11.
The Guyanese forged ahead by winning the crucial doubles match against Denton and Whyte 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 and it was all over when Billingy defeated Whyte 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 in the first of the reverse singles matches.
In the semi-finals the Guyana 1 team defeated Guyana 2 3-0 with Billingy being forced to pull out all the stops to get past Akira Watson 11-8, 11-9, 13-15, 7-11 and 11-8 while Sukhai defeated Barker 11-7, 11-4, 15-13.
The pair of Billingy/Sukhai defeated Watson/Barker 11-2, 11-7, 11-7. In the other semi-final Jamaica defeated Trinidad 3-1.
Whyte defeated Jerisse Elder 11-5, 7-11, 11-1 and 11-9 while Denton edged Lyllana Boodhan 11-2, 14-12, and 15-13. Whyte/Denton lost the doubles encounter 8-11, 4-11, and 4-11 but Whyte defeated Boodhan 14-12, 11-7, 11-8 to clinch the tie.
In the girls U13 team event Group Two Guyana 1 defeated Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana 4 by 3-0 margins to top the group and advance to the knockout stage.
In Group One, Jamaica and Guyana 2 reached the semis in first and second position respectively at the expense of Guyana 3.
In the boys U13 final, Leshon Francis defeated Ebo Mc Neil 7-11, 11-7, 11-3 and 11-9 but Manie Eleuthere lost to Malachi Moore 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 9-11. Moore and Mc Neil then defeated Francis/Eleuthere 7-11, 12-14, 6-11 in the doubles encounter to take a 2-1 lead but Francis defeated Moore 11-9, 11-7, 3-11, 13-11 to knot the score.
Eleuthere then defeated Mc Neil 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 to win the tie for the St Lucians.
In the semifinals Guyana 1 defeated Jamaica 3-0 while St Lucia defeated Trinidad and Tobago by a similar score.
In the boys U11 final Jamaica defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-1.
In the first stage Jamaica and Guyana 1 advanced at the expense of Guyana 3 while in the second group Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana 2 advances with Barbados and Guyana 4 losing out.
In the semi-finals Jamaica defeated Guyana 2, 3-0 and Trinidad and Tobago defeated Guyana 1, 3-0.
