Guzman claims women’s singles badminton crown

In the Singles final, the 28-year old was forced to exert all of her competitive strengths against a tough and persistent Haramara Gaitain of Mexico. Seeded at number two, Guzman fought tooth-and-nail to clinch a 21-19 win in the opening game.

Gaitan proved a reckoning force when she turned the tables in the second game, winning 22- 20.

However, Guzman pressed for the victory and would eventually be crowned champion of the division with another nail-biting 21-19 victory in the final game.

In her previous rounds, the Cuban-born player outplayed Mariama Eastmond (Barbados) 21-9, 21-15 and crushed Surinamese Crystal Leefmans 21-6, 21-10 in the semi-final. Gaitan was expected to be an uphill task for the TT player, since she disposed of top seed Daniela Macias (Canada), 21-19, 23-21, in the “semis”.

Meanwhile, the second seeded duo of Guzman/Chariandy-Balwant had to settle for silver in the Women’s Doubles. Up against the category’s highest ranked team of Crystal Leefmans/Priscila Tjitrodipo (Suriname) in the final, the TT combination went down in the opening game 23-21. They tried to gain some ground in the second but was then ousted 21-16 by the eventual gold medallists.

Throughout their campaign, they defeated locals Stephanie Jadi/Danielle Melchiot (Suriname) 21-6, 21-19 and got past Quennie Pawirosemito (Suriname)/Elisa Piek (Netherlands) 21-11, 21-13 to advance to the final.

And in the Men’s Singles final, top seeded Cuban player Osleni Guerrero hoisted the crown after beating second ranked Jan Frohlich (Czech Republic) 21-11, 21-18. National representative, Naim Mohammed was eliminated in the second round while Anil Seepaul bowed in the first round of the Men’s Singles.