Seepaul, Pantin advance in CAREBACO doubles

Trinidad and Tobago’s men double pair of Anil Seepaul and Kerwyn Pantin as well as Glendon Thomas and Darron Charles combined beautifully and advanced to the next round of the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) International Championships men’s doubles competition being staged at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex.

With a galaxy of world-rated stars on show, the leading Trinidadian racquet wielders will be fully tested today when action continues from 10 am. Yesterday, national three-time singles champion Seepaul and his talented partner Pantin were extended to three sets by Barbadians Andrew Clarke and Curwin Cherubin, but they eventually showed their Eastern Caribbean neighbours who were boss as they did on Sunday last . Power smashes and agility by both Seepaul and Pantin enabled them to take control of the match in the third and decisive set to move forward with a 15-12, 12-15, 15-7 victory. Today, they will have to be at their best to stop the world-rated Canadian pair of William Milroy and Keith Chan. Charles and Thomas played much better than their first outing against Suriname to turn  back the Jamaican pair Kingsley Ford and Ricardo Teape  15-6,  15-11.  They meet Germany’s Ingo Kindervater and Bjoern Siegemund today.

Suriname’s successful junior pair of Mitchell Wongsodikromo and Virgil Soeroredjo downed Jamaica champions Bradley Graham and Emilio Mendez 15-12, 15-5, but their senior counterparts Raul SjauwMook and Faisal Dikmoet succumbed to Japan pair of Tooru Matsumoto and Keishi Kawagucchi 4-15, 6-15. However, all eyes were on top-rated Japanese pair Sho Sasaki and Shinji Shankai who gave a glimpse of their  incredible wrist play to demolish Canada’s Kyle Hunter and Mike Beres 15-11, 15-4. In singles action, Brazil’s Guilherme Padro stopped TT’s Surajdeen Mohammed 15-13, 15-5. Hunter (Canada) then whipped TT’s Glendon Thomas 15-5, 15-3; Sergio Llopis (Japan) beat Darron Charles (TT) 15-12, 15-9 and Hirotaka Furui (Japan)  trounced Ryan Holder (Barbados) 15-3, 15-1.

Jamaica’s star Graham Bradley downed Suarez Salazar 15-3,15-7; Jamaica’s Charles Pyne beat Ricardo Trevelin 15-5 and 15-10; Eric Go thrashed Lucas Araujo 15-7 and 15-6; Suriname’s Redon Coulor edged out Barbadian Andrew Clarke 16-17, 15-9 and 15-6; Canada’s Andrew Dadeka beat Jamaica’s Emilio Mendez 15-3 and 15-10. Fans enjoyed the showdown among the big guns with United States Ragu Rai overpowering Japanese Shinji Shinkai at 15-17, 15-4 and 15-4; Canada’s Stefan Wojcikiewicz turning back Peru’s Javier Jimeno 15-6 and 15-9; Japan’s Keishi Kawagucchi getting the better of Ricardo Fernando 17-16 and 15-8. Among the women  TT’s Kesma Bonitoi bowed to Eva Lee at 7-11 and 2-11; TT’s Stephanie Mitchell lost to Judy Patrick at 5-11 and 5-11 while Kimberley Lovero lost to Barbadian Mariama Eastmond at 5-11 and 1-11. Japan’s Miyo Akad trounced Suriname’s Carolyn Davids 11-6 and 11-1 while Peru’s Lorena Blanco beat Jamaica’s Kimone Myers 11-0 and 11-4. Apart from the excitement among seniors from 20 countries, there will be heated competition among the Caribbean juniors who are seeking top CAREBACO individual honours as the challenge becomes greater to reach the next rounds.