Seepaul, Rampersad spearhead TT hopes in B’dos badminton

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s senior triple-crowned badminton champion Anil Seepaul and national junior triple-crowned title-holder Rahul Rampersad will spearhead their country’s challenge at the International Badminton Federation Thomas Cup men’s team championship, which is being staged in Barbados.

Seepaul will be at the helm of the five-member team, which will be seeking honours among the leading countries in the Pan-American region in the championships. The squad left on Monday for Bimshire and will go into action immediately. Competition ends on February 21.
The United States of America and Canada have always dominated these IBF team championships and they are highly favoured once again to battle for the top berths among the eight participating nations.
Other participating nations are Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and hosts Barbados. Jamaica, the other leading Caribbean team, withdrew because of financial constraints.

The eight teams will be sub-divided into two Groups of Four and will be involved in the preliminary round robin showdown. The top two teams at the end of the “prelims” will advance to the semi-final rounds. The ties will consist of three singles and two doubles matches. Seepaul Rampersad and national men’s singles runner-up Kerwyn Pantin will contest the singles. They will also be involved in the doubles fixtures.
Seepaul and Pantin are the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) men’s doubles bronze medallists and they were responsible for leading Trinidad and Tobago to 2003 CAREBACO team title last year at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo.

They should prove a formidable combination but the youngsters Rampersad and national under 17 triple-crowned champion Justin Siu will also have to up their game against seasoned senior campaigners.
Coach Daron Dasent has been preparing the squad for over two months and he knows that this outing will boost TT’s chances of successfully defending the CAREBACO title later in the year. Ronald Clarke, president of the TTBF, will serve as manager while Patrick Cunningham will be one of the official umpires of the most prestigious men’s championship.

The overall winner will compete for world team title in Indonesia in May.