Trinidad and Tobago’s Mateo Mollineau was beaten in his round-of-32 match in the cadet boys singles of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-Americas Youth (Under-19 and U-15). The championships ended at the Domoo Polideportivo. Guatemala City, Rosario, Guatemala City, on Saturday.
Having topped his three-player round-robin group, Mollineau came up against host player Kim Lucas and was beaten 5-11, 9-11, 7-11 to make his tournament exit.
A day earlier, Mollineau swept aside Argentina’s Ezequiel Sato 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 and Ecuador’s Alejandro Cordero 11-9, 15-13, 13-11 in Group Three.
However, T&T’s other players in the cadet boys competition, Ethan Mohammed and Jared Simon, did not get out of their round-robin groups. This was after Mohammed was outplayed by Brazil’s Leandro Ferreira 3-11, 6-11, 5-11 and Guatemala’s Jose Mendez 5-11, 6-11, 8-11 in Group Five, and Simon was defeated by Brazil’s Antonio Poletto 3-11, 3-11, 4-11 and Mexico’s Axel Fragoso 6-11, 4-11, 7-11 in Group Six.
Simon and Mohammed also bowed out at the last 32 stage of the doubles, losing 9-11, 5-11, and 3-11 against the hometown duo, Andres Orellana and Jesus Tejada.
In the junior boys’ singles, T&T’s Malik Gopaul went the full distance with Brazil’s Caio Silva but fell short 7-11, 11-3, 11-5, 4-11, 4-11, and Ecuador’s Joshua Robayo 7-11, 7-11, 2-11 in Group Five.
T&T’s Josiah Joseph was humbled by Puerto Rico’s Sebastian Cruz Ruiz (4-11, 6-11, 5-11), Guatemalan Marcos Chevez (7-11, 10-12, 5-11), and Ecuadorian Juan Gonzales (12-14, 3-11, 10-12) in Group Ten, and Raees Elahie was brushed aside by Mexico’s Ilan Lima (2-11, 4-11, 3-11), Guatemalan Enrique Veliz Archilla (6-11, 6-11, 5-11), and Canadian Jason Louie (8-11, 7-11, 8-11) in Group Eleven.
In the doubles, Gopaul and Joseph won their opener against St. Lucia’s Manie Eleuthere and Leshon Francis 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, and 11-7 but were then stopped by USA’s Daniel Tran and Darryl Tsao 5-11, 4-11, 5-11 in the last-16.
However, Elahie and Mollineau fell at the first hurdle to Lima and Eder Alvarez, 7-11, 9-11, 9-11.
Earlier in the week, the cadet boys ended in the 11th spot after a 1-3 loss to Mexico in their tenth-spot playoff, with Mollineau getting the lone win for T&T, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, over Axel Fragoso.
Mohammed was beaten by Gael Pardo 9-11, 11-3, 6-11, 5-11; Simon was swept aside by David Cardon 5-11, 6-11, and 2-11; and Mollineau was edged out by Pardo 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 7-11, 11-13.
In the round-robin phase, the T&T cadet boys were swept aside in their Group Two opener by Canada (0-3) before a 1-3 loss to Honduras, with Mollineau getting the lone win, and a 0-3 loss to Brazil as well.
The junior boys’ team ended in the 12th spot after a 0-3 defeat at the hands of Mexico, with Gopaul losing out to Ilan Lima 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, and 8-11; Joseph going under to Eder Alvarez 4-11, 5-11, and 8-11; and Raees Elahie coming up short against Antonio Perez 12-10, 5-11, 9-11, 12-10, 4-11.
In their round-robin matches in Group Three on Monday night, T&T went under to the Dominican Republic 0-3 and the USA 0-3.
