Seepaul, Cassie advance in Peru badminton

Trinidad and Tobago senior badminton singles champions Anil Seepaul and Sabrina Cassie, playing together in the mixed doubles competition, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Peru Open International Cham-pionships in Lima, Peru yesterday.

The tournament has attracted some of world’s leading badminton stars. The TT pair fought bravely and overpowered Martin de Galle and Cynthia Calderon in their tension-filled three-setter. The Seepaul/Cassie tandem won the first set at 15-11 but their opponents rebounded to take the second at 12-15. However, putting all the experience and determination together they fought off the determined challenge to clinch the third game and match at 15-11. They earlier lost their singles matches. Seepaul committed a number of unforced errors and bowed to Peru’s top-rated player Juan Jose Espinosa 5-15 and 12-15.

Seepaul then teamed up with Peru’s 15-year-old sensation Sebastian Salazar to demolish the Dominican Republic’s leading pair of Pedro Pena and Hector Pena in two straight sets 15-1, 15-1. But they face their biggest hurdle against world’s number 14 rated German pair of Tesha Joachim and Cassel Jochen in the quarterfinal round. Cassie lost to Peru’s Claudio Rivero 4-11, 7-11 in her singles outing. The Cri-Stars Badminton Club player proved her worth in the women’s doubles competition. Combining with United States’ Tina Taft, they downed Peru’s Danila Eslava and Lorena Navarro 15-10, 15-12. The Cassie/Taft pair will square off against the tournament’s number two-seeded duo of Sandra Jimeno and Doriana Riveiro of Peru.