T&T's Arun Roopnarine and Catherine Spicer earned this country's first gold medal of the Caribbean Table Tennis Federation Cadet & Junior Championships when they outlasted Puerto Rico's Luis Echevarria and Ashley Diaz in five sets in the final at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo, yesterday. Overall, T&T has so far won seven medals–one gold, one silver and five bronze.
Backed by their teammates, Roopnarine and Spicer battled to a 13-11, 12-10, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6 victory to land T&T's first gold on the tournament which served off on Wednesday.
This was the first gold medal since Kenwin Small won Junior single in Guyana five years ago.
Earlier in the semifinal, Roopnarine and Spicer also won in five sets against Guyana's Stefan Corlette and Chelsea Edghill 11-8, 13-15, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 while Echevarria and Diaz stopped fellow Puerto Ricans Luis Enrique Serrano and Caroline Resto 11-8, 11-7, 11-8.
Roopnarine and Spicer, who were given a round-of-32 bye, began with a convincing 11-3, 11-5, 11-1 defeat of Guyana's Scott Garraway and Neveah Clarkston in the last-16 before ousting Dominican Republic's Yasiris Ortiz and Jeferson Almanzar 11-8, 5-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-3 in the quarterfinals.
T&T's Varoun Sitram and Jevaune Stewart reached as far as the quarterfinals with wins over Guyanese duo Bryton Murray and Jewel Todd 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-3 and fellow T&T pair Che-Pierre Fournellier and Adefa James 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9 before losing to Serrano and Resto 3-11, 6-11, 6-11.
Two other local teams reached the second round with Brandon Lee Young and Danielle Dick outlasting Kristian Doughty and Tifanny Walton in round-32 prior to their loss against Puerto Rico's Eva Britto and Isaac Villa 4-11, 2-11, 9-11.
The Cadet Mixed Doubles combination of Aaron Wilson and national women's singles champion Brittany Joseph were stopped in their quest to make it two golds for T&T after falling to Dominican Republic's Andres Betances and Cinthya Sanchez 9-11, 9-11, 8-11 in their semis and got bronze.
Wilson and Joseph who were on a round-of-32 bye swept past Mariano Lockward and Esmerlyn Castro of Dominican Republic 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5 in their last-16 match followed by a 12-10, 20-18, 14-12 tense win over Puerto Rico's Andre Cullen and Paola Sanabria.
The Junior Girls Doubles duo of Brittany Joseph and Catherine Spicer had to settle for bronze after losing their semifinal to Puerto Ricans Ashley Diaz and Caroline Resto 7-11, 4-11, 7-11.
Joseph and Spicer sealed a place in the last four after easing past Jamaicans Jewll Todd and Anna Joao 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 in their quarterfinal.
And T&T added two more bronze medals from the Cadet girls Doubles teams of Gyshan Latchman and Nalini Boodoo, and Jasher De Gannes and Monique Cooper after they were both beaten in semifinals.
On Thursday night, the T&T 'A' team of Roopnarine, Wilson, Sarvesh Mungal and Andreus Pantin-Abraham earned a silver medal in the Junior boys team final of after losing out to Dominican Republic 3-1 in their decider at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo.
Cadet Doubles Results:
Selected round-of-32:
Daniel Henriques/Nalini Boodoo (T&T) bt Yadiel Torres/Amanda Chavarria (P/Rico) 11-5, 13-11, 3-11, 9-11, 11-6
Jesse Ramgoolie/Anjana Valsalan (T&T) lost to Tyrese Knight/Marissa Alleyne (B'dos) 5-11, 7-11, 8-11
Benoni Daniel/Ray J Thomas (T&T) lost to Kyle Edghill/Kristie Lopes (Guy) 7-11, 5-11, 8-11
Shakeel Mitchell/Jasher De Gannes (T&T) bt Joshua Maxwell/Monique Cooper (T&T) 11-7, 11-7, 12-10
Koren Welch/Shaneka Johnson (T&T) lost to George Perez/Jamie Jaime (P/Rico) 6-11, 2-11, 6-11
Round-of-16:
Aaron Wilson/Brittany Joseph (T&T) bt Mariano Lockward/Esmerlyn Castro (Dom Rep) 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5
Daniel Henriques/Nalini Boodoo (T&T) lost to Elishaba Johnson/Priscilla Greaves (Guy) 13-15, 14-12, 6-11, 8-11
Shakeel Mitchell/Jasher De Gannes (T&T) lost to Stephen Payne/Anthonette Riley (B'dos) 5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 10-12
Amresh Mungal/Gyshan Latchman (T&T) lost to George Perez/Jamie Jaime (P/Rico) 8-11, 8-11, 13-15
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