TT juniors bid for badminton gold today

Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 singles champion Vikie Singh and her doubles partner Nekeisha Blake as well as boys doubles champions Justin Siu and Earnesto Dean will contest the gold medal matches when the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Junior Championships finals are contested at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo today. All the junior age groups finals will take place from 10 am while International finals are scheduled to start at 2 pm. Presentation of medals and closing ceremony will take place following the International matches. With the Under-17 pairs in the finals, Trinidad and Tobago are assured of at least two silver medals to add to five bronze overall in the juniors category. Yesterday, Singh and Blake easily overpowered their counterparts Cindy-Ann Ballantyne and Sharon James at 15-6, 15-2 in their semi-final match. They will do battle with the Mexican pair of Rosina Nunes and Naty DeLa Ranger in the gold medal match. The Mexicans will also face off against each in the Under-17 girls singles final. Ranger outplayed Singh 11-0, 11-2 in their singles semi-final encounter yesterday while Nunes stopped Jamaica’s Shaunette Davis 11-5, 8-11, 11-3 in the other “semis”.

TT collected the bronze medal in the Girls Under-17 singles as well as two more bronze in the Boys Under-17 singles. Both Siu and Dean succumbed to Mexican rivals Alexandro Reyes and Jose Gonzalez who will fight each for the singles gold medal today. Reyes beat Siu at 15-7, 15-2 while Gonzalez overcame Dean 15-5, 15-5. The Trinidadian Under 15 pair of Mitra Ramcharran (singles champion) and Cindy-Ann Ballantyne also had to settle for bronze medal when they were edged out by Jamaica’s Jovan Browne and Cherisse Schaff 17-15, 9-15, 8-15.
A similar fate was meted out to TT’s Adam Barclay and Stefan Bhagwat who together lost their Under 13 semi-final clash to Jonathan Smith (Jam) and Dillon Dharmohoetomo (Sur) by a 4-15, 3-15 margin. There was also a tinge of sadness among the locals when national senior mixed doubles champion Anil Seepaul and Zeudi Mack missed the bronze medal by conceding victory to Surinamese top pair of Oscar Brandon (10-time singles champion) and Stephanie Jadi in their CAREBACO International quarter-finals encounter on Thursday night.

Although leading 13-8 in the first set, Seepaul and Mack committed unforced errors and failed to capitalise on scoring opportunities which allowed their Dutch rivals to reel off seven consecutive points and claim the set advantage. The second set was another sizzling affair but the local senior champs were unable to overhaul the Surinamese top pair who advanced to the semi-final and secured a bronze for their country after 28 minutes of action. The Seepaul/Mack tandem had taken care of their local counterparts Surajdeen Mohammed and Stephanie Mitchell in the first round match at 15-4, 15-6 while Brandon and Jadi advanced without flicking their racquets. Seepaul and Kerwyn Pantin lost their round of 16 match against the world-rated pair of Bobby Milroy and Keith Chan at 15-5 and 15-1 while the other TT pair of Darron Charles and Glendon Thomas also bowed out in the round of 16 to the Kin-dervarter/Siegemond combination at 15-1 and 15-9 on Thursday evening. Suriname have been assured of the gold and silver medals in the Boys Under-19 singles when their top two players square off in the grand finals today.