TT edged 3-2 in table tennis opener

KINGSTON: Dexter St Louis won twice but Trinidad and Tobago were still edged 3-2 by   Puerto Rico, as action in the 43rd Caribbean Table Tennis Championships opened at the Dr Alfred Sangster Audi-torium, University of Technology here. Trinidad and Tobago were to meet Jamaica in their second match in yesterday’s  morning session, while the Jamaicans were due to play Dominican Republic in the afternoon session. Jamaica men’s team made a winning start against Curacao as the three-time Caribbean champion, Stephen Hylton set Jamaica underway on Saturday with a brisk 3-1 win over Ronaldo Vos 11-7, 11-1, 7-11, 11-8. England-based Darren Blake then followed up with a similar 3-1 whipping of Eldret Van der Hout 8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6. Nigel Webb then sealed the victory by brushing aside Jaysrom Mathilda 3-1, 11-6, 13-15, 11-3, 11-6.

The women’s team of Kadian Carney, Nina Burton and Collette Palmer however put on a poor showing as they went down 3-0 to Dominican Republic. Also making a winning opening to the defence of their men’s team title were Barbados who defeated Guyana 3-0. Trevor Farley defeated Paul Muesa 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, Robert Roberts beat Matthew Khan at 6, 9 and 5 while Kevin Farley finished off Guyana with a hard-fought 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7 win over Andrew Daly. In the morning session, Venezuela defeated neighbours Guyana 3-0, St Vincent and the Grenadines tagged Dom-inica 3-1 in Group 1 while in Group 2 Dominican Republic stopped Curacao 3-0. The championships were expected to resume yesterday morning with the continuation of team matches.