Kyle Borneo of the University of T&T, Arima Hawks' Brittany Joseph and Jasher De Gannes of St Andrews Anglican retained their respective titles at the Solo National Junior Table-Tennis Championship at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena. On Friday night, Borneo defeated Lawrence Ince of Pentecostal Light and Life 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 in their best-of-five set final to keep hold of his boys' Under-21 singles crown. In the semifinals, Borneo swept past Davone Joseph of Hawks 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 and Ince got past PowerGen's Vimal Roopnarine, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8. Borneo added the boys' doubles title to his list of accolades when he paired with Roopnarine to beat Orell Cooper and Ince 11-7, 5-11, 11-8 in the best-of-three set final. The eventual champions, Borneo and Roopnarine battled past Joseph and Kerron Ali of Hawks 11-9, 11-6 in the semifinal while Cooper and Ince stopped Khadeem Moore and Varoun Sitram 11-8, 11-7.
Roopnarine also came away with two titles on the night as he partnered Catherine Spicer to beat his brother Arun Roopnarine and Renuka Sitram 12-10, 7-11, 11-4 in the Mixed Doubles decider. Spicer had, earlier on, lost out to Carenage Blasters' Ashley Quashie, a member of the senior women's team, in the Under-21 girls' final, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11. Quashie brushed aside UTT's Kristen Scipio 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 and Spicer ousted Ambika Sitram, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-1 in the last-four matches.
However, Spicer still managed to get her second title when she combined with Renuka Sitram to get the better of Avernelle Abraham and Scipio, 11-7, 11-5, and Quashie and Ambika Sitram, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 in the three-team girls' Doubles round-robin tourney. Yesterday, Joseph made it back-to-back titles in the girls' Under-13 age-group after she outclassed Monique Cooper in their final, 11-9, 11-7, 11-2.
In the semifinals Joseph overcame St Andrews' Jasher De Gannes 11-6, 11-1, 8-11, 11-2 and Cooper outlasted Gyshan Latchman, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-9. The win for Joseph over Cooper was the second on the day as she also prevailed when they faced off for the Under-15 title, 11-8, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8. Prior to the final, Joseph eased past Artienea Gregoire 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 and Cooper came from behind to beat Latchman, also for the second time, 6-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-4. In the Boys' Under-15 decider, Arun Roopnarine proved too much for fierce rival Aaron Wilson, 11-6, 11-5, 11-13, 11-4. Roopnarine booked his place in the final after beating Amresh Mungal 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-1 and Wilson whipped Amresh's brother, Sarvesh Mungal 11-7, 11-4, 11-6. De Gannes kept hold of her Under-13 Girls' winners' tag after beating team-mate Shanekah Johnson 11-7, 11-2, 11-4 while Brandon Lee Young of Maloney Tigers got the better of St Andrews' Jakeem Welch 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 in the boys' equivalent.
