Nigel Simon
Vance Juteram and T’Shelle Barnes added to T&T's gold medal tally when the Under-11 to Under-17 Carebaco (Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation Championship) concluded in Paramaribo, Suriname, yesterday.
Overall, the T&T contingent bagged 13 medals, inclusive of four gold medals, five silver and four bronze.
Juteram who was scheduled to compete in three Under-17 category finals on the Ring Sports Centre, finally ended his run of silver medals when he combined with Guyana’s Priyanna Ramdhani to beat Suriname’s Jair Naipal and Erisa Bleau 21-15, 21-7 in the Mixed Doubles final.
Earlier on the night, Juteram and countryman Uzair Omardeen were beaten in the Boys Under-17 Doubles final by Naipal and Danny Chen 20-22, 21-14, 17-21.
And in the Boys Under-17 Singles final, Chen also got the better of Juteram, 18-21, 21-13, 21-9.
The standout performer for T&T at the Championship was an Under-11 starlet, T’Shelle Barnes who won her third gold medal of the week when she teamed up with Suriname’s Megan Chen to beat hometown duo, Gillian Jones and Le Yan Sharon Li 21-16, 21-13 in the Girls Under-11 Doubles Finals:
On Tuesday, Barnes combined with fellow national junior player Andrew Babwah for the top spot in the Under-11 Mixed Doubles round-robin series.
This after Babwah and Barnes outclassed Suriname’s Terrence Huang and Jones 21-10, 21-19 to end with a perfect 3-0 record.
This after the T&T duo defeated Surinamese pairs’ Jeric Van Der Leuv and Le Yan Sharon Li, 18-21, 21-14, 21-10 and, Shaquille Somedjo and Chen, 21-9, 21-13, in their first two matches on Monday.
On Monday, Barnes won T&T’s first gold medal, in the Girls Under-11 Singles round-robin series with a 21-5, 21-1 beating of Guyana’s Mishka Beharry to end with a perfect 4-0 record in the five-team round-robin series.
On Sunday last, Barnes began the tournament with comfortable wins against Suriname duo, Morgan Chen, 21-3, 21-5; and Le Yan Sharon Li 21-5, 21-7; and on Monday she crushed Gillian Jones, also of Suriname, 21-5, 21-2.
The top-ranked Babwah had to settle for silver in the Boys Under-11 Singles decider, when he went under to Suriname’s Jeric Van Der Leuv, 12-21, 15-21.
The older of the Babwah brothers, James also got silver after he and partner Aditya Mahara were outlasted by host pair, Angelo Chen and Dickson Liao 21-15, 11-21,15-21 in the Under-13 Boys Doubles final.
T&T medal winners
Under-11 Division
Boys Singles: Andrew Babwah - silver
Girls Singles: T’Shelle Barnes - gold
Girls Doubles: T’Shelle Barnes (T&T)/Megan Chen (Sur) - gold
Mixed Doubles: Andrew Babwah/T’Shelle Barnes - gold
Under-13 Division
Boys Singles: James Babwah - bronze
Boys Doubles: James Babwah/Aditya Maharaj - silver
Girls Doubles: Danyelle Barnes/Sanna Guria - silver
Mixed Doubles: Aditya Maharaj/Amara Urquhart & James Babwah/Sanna Guria - bronze
Under-15 Division
Mixed Doubles: Ryan Travis Sinanan/Cathline Ramroop - bronze
Under-17 Division
Boys Singles: Vance Juteram - silver
Boys Doubles: Vance Juteram/Uzair Omardeen - silver
Mixed Doubles: Vance Juteram/Priyanna Ramdhani (Guy) - gold
