Senior Multimedia Reporter
nigel.simon@guardian.co.tt
Trinidad and Tobago’s Chloe Fraser made her exit as the first stage of the main draw in the World Table Tennis Feeder Level Two Tournament at the Hennebont Ping Center in Hennebont, France, yesterday.
This was after 17-year-old Fraser was outplayed by the more experienced 29-year-old Pole Natalia Bajor, ranked 55th in the world, in their women’s round-of-32 singles match, 4-11, 5-11, 4-11, to put an end to her tournament.
When the tournament served off earlier in the week, after Fraser, ranked fifth in the qualifiers, finished second in her three-player round-robin qualifying series thanks to a battling five-set win over Jersey’s Hannah Silcox in their Group Four final match to end with a 1-1 record.
Needing to win in three straight sets to secure the top spot in the group, the 17-year-old Fraser outlasted Silcox in a thrilling contest, 7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-10, 11-9.
In her opening match on Wednesday, two-time national champion Fraser, who was a multi-medal winner at the recently held Central American and Caribbean Table Tennis Championship in the Dominican Republic, went under and was edged out in five sets by Norwegian Christine Kalvatn 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11.
However, Silcox had earlier swept past Kalvatn 11-6, 11-9, and 11-9 in the group opener, which left the three players with 1-1 win-loss records.
In the end, Silcox topped the pool with a better sets won to sets lost ratio of 5-2 to Fraser’s 5-5, while Kalvatn was third at 2-6 to miss out.
Also yesterday, Fraser paired with Costa Rica’s Lucia Zavaleta for a women’s round-of-16 loss to France’s Isa Cok and Agathe Avezou 12-14, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, while in the mixed doubles, Fraser and Latvian Daniels Kogans were also stopped in the last 16 by Italians Niagol Stoyanov and Giorgia Piccolin 4-11, 4-11, 4-11.
