Seepaul keeps badminton hopes alive

The TT seniors fared badly in the team competition and surrendered their CAREBACO team crown. They finished in fourth spot.

Cuba secured the gold medals with an unblemished record, winning all five matches. Jamaica captured the silver while Suriname collected the bronze after they whipped TT 4-1 in the decisive final round encounter on Thursday.

Reigning national singles champion Kerwyn Pantin was given the honour of playing all the men’s singles matches but he disappointed in the crucial games against Cuba, Jamaica and Suriname. His team never recovered in those matches.

He was seeded fourth in the men’s singles draw. But also failed to advance to the quarter-finals. He was knocked out by Suriname’s runner-up Mitchel Wongsodikromo at 17-14, 15-5.

Pantin who won his first round encounter made an early exit, during the round of 32.

Former junior champion Raul Rampersad, ex- national senior title-holder , Cuba-based Darron Charles as well as Surajdeen Mohammed were also ousted during the fist phase.

Rampersad went under to Cuba’s Y Alvarez at 4-15, 2-15 (17 mins); Charles was pummeled into submission by Mexico’s Arzola at 1-15, 2-15 (15 mins) while Mohammed was thrashed by Barbadian Andre Padmore at 4-15, 5-15.

However, it was Seepaul, TT’s most experienced and fittest sportsman, who proved his worth with two hard-fought victories to clinch a quarter-final berth among the Latin American, Caribbean and Canadian counterparts. He grabbed the advantage against former Barbadian champion Ryan Holder with a 15-8 first set lead. But Holder pushed him all the way before the Trinidadian prevailed at 17-15 after 35 minutes of evenly-contested rallies.

Cuba’s Jorge Gonzalez gave Seepaul another stern test in an exciting three-set thriller. But the Trinidadian ace withstood the onslaught to move into the quarter-finals, after conceding the first set at 12-15. Seepaul eventually won 12-15, 15-13 and 15-12 in 57 minutes of gripping action.

Female players Nadine Julien, Zeudi Mack, Stephanie Mitchell, Lisa Umraw and Cuba-based Kamasha Robertson were knocked out in their first match on court.

Julien retired after trailing 0-11 and 0-1 (20) minutes; Umraw with a first round bye, lost to Cuba’s I Medina 0-11, 0-11; Mitchell lost to Mexico’s Naty Rangel 5-11, 5-11 (20 mins) and Robertson lost to Canada’s Valerie Loker 0-11 and 1-11 (15 mins).

Mack was the only player who extended her Mexican opponent Diyanire Angulo to three sets. That match finished 7-11, 11-6, 5-11.

National Under-17 champion Mitra Ramcharran made it through to the quarter-finals in his age group but found the Cuban junior champion too hot to handle.

Ramcharran whipped Puerto Rico’s Hector Rios 15-7, 15-6 in the first round, and then outlasted Mexico’s Jose Rodriguez 15-8, 17-14 in the next round.

But his hopes of a bronze were extinguished by Guerrero who cruised into the semi-final with a commanding 15-0, 15-3.

Christopher Railwah, Keston Friday and Shrikanth Adidam were gone after the first round.