Chequeda Deboulet is hoping to rewrite the script at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, when she takes the badminton court.
This after the multiple times junior and senior national champion did not have the best of preparations in Venezuela and Peru recently, and is looking to turn things around.
At the Venezuelan Open some two weeks ago, Deboulet got a good start by whipping hometown favourite Davila Guillen in two sets, 21-16, 21-16, in the round of 32 in the ladies’ singles, however, her confidence was dashed in the round of 16 when she went down the highly-ranked Yasmine Hamza of Italy.
In the opening set, Deboulet, who has almost singlehandedly been attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris, France next year, could not shake off the nerves in time, as she was beaten 21-5 in the first set.
When she got into the game, she battled hard but could not turn things around, losing for a second time 21-15.
Deboulet received a passing grade from top Argentine coach Martin Trejo who labelled her as the best T&T player, due to her tactical concepts and her ability to master the game rhythms very well. She later travelled to Peru for that country’s Open competition a week later but did not get out of the round of 32.
Facing Gualdi Iona of Argentina, Deboulet was beaten 22-20, 21-8 to be booted out of the tournament. She and her coach Anil Seepaul were on their way to Chile yesterday, hoping to correct the mistakes of the past and secure valuable points that will take her to the Olympics.