Top seed Sasaki in CAREBACO 16

TOP seeded stars Sho Sasaki (men) and Anu Weckstrom (women) showed their class and moved to the round of 16 at  the 2003 Caribbean Regional Bad-minton Confederation (CAREBACO) International Championships at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex yesterday.

As the battle heats up for the places into the medal rounds, Sasaki, the Japanese world-rated number 29 player, first took care of Suriname’s junior champion Virgil Soeroredjo at 15-2 and 15-4. He returned to the court later in the day to whip world-ranked Andrew Dadeka 15-3 and 15-1. The immensely-talented and agile southpaw will clash with Spain’s champion Arturo Ruiz who got the better of the plucky Trinidadian Kerwyn Pantin at 15-7 and 15-5. But he had to pull out all the stops to get past Japanese Kwawagucchi at 13-15, 15-3 and 15-12. TT’s three-time singles champion, Anil Seepaul (#312), fought bravely but could not withstand the power and placements of world number-63-ranked Tooru Matsumoto who triumphed at 15-4 and 15-4.

The Japanese star did not have it that easy against Germany’s Stefan Wojcikiewicz (rated #88) but prevailed with superb drop shots and court mastery. Matsumoto won at 10-15, 17-15 and 15-8. His compatriot Yuichi Ikeda (#70) disposed of Pardo (#84) 15-5 and 15-0 and will battle with Canada’s Bobby Milroy (#46) who outfoxed American Ragu Rai (#162) at 15-9 and 15-9. Portugal’s Marco Vasconceles (#66) defeated Canada’s Kyle Hunter (#210) 15-5 and 15-4 and will face up the might of the tournament’s number two seed, Conrad Huickstadt in the round of 16 today. Germany’s Huickstadt got a mild a scare from the talented Suriname’s Mitchell Wongsodikromo who claimed the first set at 12-15 but did not have the experience to create the biggest shock of these annual championships which became an International Badminton Federation (IBF) Grade I tournament   since 1999. The 17-year-old showed glimpses of great potential before bowing out at 15-4 and 15-3. And the German, world-rated numder 46, outlasted the determined Spaniard Sergio Llopis (#71) at 15-5 and 15-11. On the distaff side, Finland’s Anu Weckstrom (#22) blanked out Barbados three- time champion Dionne Forde 11-0 and 11-0 and will take on Jamaica’s leading star Nigella Saunders (#161) who made light work of USA’s Meginee Mangkalakari (#70) at 11-5 and 11-1.

TT’s senior runner-up Zeudi Mack provided stiff  resistance in the second set but Japanese Miyo Akao (#105) romped to 11-0 and 11-8 victory. Canada’s Charmaine Reid (#27), rated number two for this Championship, had easy passage against TT’s former junior champion Nadine Julien at 11-3 and 11-0. She will take on American Eva Lee (#137) who turned back Santi Wibowo (#73) at 11-5 and 11-4. Her compatriot, Jody Patrick (#89) created a mild upset when she whipped Finland’s Nina Weckstrom (#34) 11-4 and 11-3. She will now face Peru’s champion Lorena Blanco who beat Barbados Mariama Eastmond 11-3 and 11-4. TT’s juniors  Rahul Rampersad (under 19), Justin Siu (under-17), Vikie Singh (under-17), Earnesto Dean (under-17) and KerryAnn Quan Chee (under-17) also made it to the round of 16 in their respective age groups singles competition. The real fireworks starts at 10 am as players battle for places to the quarter-finals and medal rounds. The men’s doubles and mixed doubles among the open category were contested last night.