Despite the absence of their two biggest stars, France-based duo, Dexter St Louis and his step-daughter Rheann Chung, T&T men and women teams made impressive starts to the Teams competition ending 2-0 at yesterday opening day of the 57th Caribbean Senior Table-Tennis Championship which served off at the Trenelle Sports Palace, Riviere-Salee, Martinique.
In the men's competition, T&T winners in 1980, 2009 and 2012 crushed Dominica 3-0 led by top ranked local Curtis Humphreys' whipping of Prince Devon 11-3, 11-7, 11-3; Aaron Wilson beating Dane Taylor 11-6, 11-2, 16-14 and reigning national champion Yuvraj Dookram humbling Clifton Lewis 11-8, 11-5, 11-8.
Up next for the T&T men was their Group Three decider with French Guyana which they won 3-1.
First, teenager Wilson recent winner of the Caribbean Junior singles and a last 16 appearance at the Latin American Junior Championship defeated Gilbert Letard 11-9, 11-9, 11-7, however Ritchie Palton then upstaged Humphreys 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 9-11, 11-9 to even the match at 1-1.
Arun Roopnarine, like Wilson, still a junior player put T&T back ahead at 2-1 via his 14-12, 10-12, 14-12, 13-11 victory over Alex Tertulien while Humphreys redeemed himself with an 11-6, 12-10, 13-11 victory over Letard to seal the 3-1 team win and top spot in the group ahead of the quarterfinal which takes place today, ahead of the semifinals and gold medal contest.
The 47-year-old St Louis, a six-time national champion and winner of the 2013 title is not part of the squad as he was dropped by the T&T Table Tennis Association (T&TTTA) who cited a need to develop younger players as the main reason for his omission.
In addition to 2013, St Louis, who began his national team career also in Martinique also won the regional singles in 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2009 and has also captured seven mixed doubles gold medals with Chung, the last also coming in 2013.
For T&T, top ranked local Curtis Humphreys, reigning national singles champion Yuvraj Dookram, Caribbean Junior singles winner Aaron Wilson and Arun Roopnarine.
Wilson is coming off a round-of-16 appearance, the first by a T&T national at the Latin American Junior Table Tennis Championship in Puerto Rico on Sunday while Roopnarine did not reach the knockout stage.
The fourth ranked T&T women were also clinical in their opening tie with fifth rated Dominica and came away easy 3-0 victors with Linda Partap-Boodhan beating Larrysa Dover 11-1, 11-6, 11-7; former national women's champion Brittany Joseph spanking Alliyah Prince 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 and Catherine Spicer sweeping past Trice Dirsette 11-5, 11-2, 11-2.
And in their second match on the day, the T&T women brushed aside third ranked French Guyana in what could of been a possible bronze medal decider, by a similar 3-0 margin.
This time 11-time national women's singles champion Aleena Edwards started off things off T&T and outclassed Maureen Hu Yen Tack 11-4, 12-10, 11-2 for a 1-0 lead before Joseph battled past Corinne Vaillant 11-6, 11-4, 12-14, 10-12, 11-3 while Spicer stopped Diana Fatal 11-6, 11-3, 11-4.
Last night, in the third round of matches, the T&T team had a bye and will resume competition this morning against two of its toughest opponents in top ranked Cuba (9am) and second ranked Dominican Republic (3pm) followed by a 5pm meeting with seventh seeded Guadeloupe.
The 30-year-old Chung, 30, a Caribbean singles champion in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2012, was selected to the T&T team, but after the axing of her step-father St Louis, she decided to opt out of the tournament. T&T is seeking a fifth women's title having won previously in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2013.