Trinidad and Tobago’s Chequeda De Boulet advanced to the women's singles quarterfinals in the US$10,000 Jamaica International Badminton Open hosted by the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA) at the University of Technology (UTECH) Auditorium in Kingston, Jamaica, Thursday.
This was after De Boulet got the better of Barbadian Sabrina Scott 21-15, 21-12 in their round-of-16 meeting. She served off her campaign by beating Alexandra Beckford of the host country 21-18, 21-13 while Scott stopped Jamaican Davina Scott 21-14, 21-9.
However, fellow T&T player Nekeisha Blake was beaten by Jamaican Mikaelah Mustafa in her round-of-32 opener 12-21, 20-22. She missed out on a spot in the last-16 against Peruvian Ines Lucia Castillo, the top-seeded player who was on a bye.
And in the men's main-draw round-of-32, T&T's Vishal Ramsubhag was outplayed by Bangladesh’s Ayman Ibn Jaman 11-21, 11-21.
On Wednesday, when the tournament served off with the men's qualifying round, T&T's Jason Ramjass fell one win short of qualifying to the main draw after losing to fourth-ranked Stephen Lue-Yen 16-21, 12-21 in the round-of-16.
Ramjass had earlier won his opening round-of-32 match versus Jamaican Matheus Smith 16-21, 21-15, 21-11.
The other T&T players in the men’s qualifiers were all beaten at the first attempt, with Yannic Inniss going under to Jamaican Mickhaile Williams 7-21, 9-21; Ryan Sinanan being edged out by another host player, Kenneth Anglin, 20-22, 17-21, and Che Pedro bowing out to Barbadian Isaiah Hinds 10-21, 15-21.
Also Thursday, Ramsubhag and Jamaican Leonardo Wildman were ousted by Kenneth Anglin and Joel Angus 15-21, 14-21 in the round-of-32, and Inniss and Pedro also bowed out, 18-21, 13-21 against host duo Daniel Ford and Tijae Hinds, also in the round-of-32.
In the mixed doubles last night, Ramsubhag and Blake met Jamaicans Kemar Valentine and Alexandra Beckford while De Boulet and Suriname’s Rivano Bisphan are through to today's last-16, where they meet Jamaicans Matheus Smith and Sue Ann Ogle.
Friday in the men's doubles round-of-16, Ramjass and Sinanan will come up against Jamaicans Craig Allison and Matthew Yee-Grant while in the women’s doubles last-16, Blake teams up with Barbadian Sabrina Scott for an opening round clash with Brazilians Elisa Del Passo Frago and Juliana Akemi Murosaki.
Following the completion of the Jamaica Badminton Open, De Boulet, Blake, Cheyenne Bhola, Inniss, Sinanan, Ramjass, Pedro, and Adita Maharaj will represent T&T at the Senior Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Championship, also carded for Jamaica.
The team event is carded for August 9-12, followed by the individual events from August 14-18.
Notable absentees from the national team are recent Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games participant Reece Marcano, along with Will Lee due to prior commitments, while Ramsubhag was a surprising non-selection for the national team.
However, T&T will not be defending their team title won at the Junior CAREBACO Championship.
