Seepaul, Cassie lead TT to Pan-Am

NATIONAL champions Anil Seepaul and Sabrina Cassie will lead Trinidad and Tobago’s challenge for medals at the Pan-American Games which gets underway tomorrow in the Dominican Republic.

Three-time champion Seepaul and nine-time Cassie were part of the successful team at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games last year. And both played significant roles in helping TT win the recently-concluded Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) senior team championship at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex. Seepaul won two bronze medals at the CAC Games. He won the men’s singles bronze and men’s doubles bronze with new partner Kerwyn Pantin who is also on the ten-member squad selection to participate in the quadrennial championships. It was the Seepaul/Pantin tandem which proved decisive in TT securing their fourth lien on the CAREBACO title.

Cassie copped the ladies singles bronze at the CAC Games but was handicapped during the CAREBACO series. She has since reached full recovery following an ankle (right) injury sustained in training at the Jean Pierrre Complex one week prior to the CAREBACO series. Much will depend on her overall fitness and form as she will team up national ten-times doubles partner Zeudi Mack for the ladies doubles contest. Together they claimed bronze at the CAC Games and once they reproduce that type of form and combinations, TT should be vying for one of the coveted medals in Santo Domingo.Former national champion Daron Charles, who is based in Cuba and Glendon Thomas will be the other men’s doubles pair. They will also feature in the mixed doubles competition with Charles teaming up with former junior champion Nadine Julien while Thomas could be battling alongside Cassie or Stephanie Mitchell.

Seepaul feels confident of their chances and said that: “We are better prepared than any other time and this is the strongest team leaving for a regional competition. Having played against the world class players in the CAREBACO International  tournament helped us lift our game to another level. We are prepared to give of our best and we will be fighting hard to win some  medals. All our players are now ranked and having participated in Peru, Cuba, Santo Domingo and the CAREBACO, I got a lot of exposure to world class players. I did not beat them but my form got better and better. Presently, I am very fit. I really want to do well and win something for my country. We will face tough competitors, especially from Canada, Brazil, United States, Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico.” The four male are Seepaul, Pantin, Charles and Thomas and the women are  Cassie, Mack, Julien and Stephanie Mitchell, together with national senior coach Daren Dasent and manager Ronald Clarke will depart on Tuesday for Santo Domingo.