Zion St Rose created a stir on the opening night of the T&T Badminton Association Senior National Championships when he battled past fourth-ranked Mikael Joachim in their round-of-32 clash at the National Racquet Centre, Orange Grove Road, Tacarigua on Monday night.
St Rose rallied from a first-set loss to beat Joachim 13-21, 21-8, 21-10 and was joined in the last-16 by five-time national champion Anil Seepaul, and all the other seeded players in the top ten inclusive of Ryan Sinanan, Leon Cassie, Dejaun Williams, Boodoo Sinanan, Nathaniel Khillawan, Matthaus Joachim, and Rondell De Freitas.
The top-ranked Sinanan (R) made light work of Stephen Ganness 21-7, 21-10; second-seeded Cassie outplayed Donovan, David, 21-19, 21-10; third-ranked Williams spanked Patrick Dickson 21-5, 21-8; fifth seed Sinanan (B) defeated Alviero Alvada 26-28, 21-19, 21-6; sixth-ranked Khillawan stopped Nathaniel Joseph 21-16, 21-14, seventh-ranked Joachim ousted Keshon Luces 21-5, 21-5, and the eight-ranked De Freitas scolded Joshua Sinanan 21-12, 21-7.
The vastly experienced duo of five-time national champion Anil Seepaul, and 2019 winner Will Lee, as well as top junior Vance Juteram also booked their places in the last-16.
The 47-year-old Seepaul who has not competed in more than ten years made a triumphant return to local competition when he defeated Roger Moore 21-14, 21-16 in their round-of-32 encounter while Lee served off the defence of the title with a round-of-64 win over Alex Paul 21-14, 21-5 followed by 16-21, 21-14, 21-17 victory against Matthaus Wilford to reach the last-16 while Juteram defeated Amir Mahabir 21-17, 21-13 and then toppled Nicholas Khillawan 21-6, 21-4.
In the Women’s Open, there were comfortable round-of-16, victories for second, third, and fourth-ranked players Amara Urquhart, Cathline Ramroop, and Rachael Ragoonanan to join top seed Chequeda De Boulet, 21, who received a bye, in the quarterfinals.
Urquhart brushed aside Jada Renales 23-21, 21-16, Ramroop humbled 21-16, 21-15, and Ragoonanan crushed Mikaele Calliste 21-1, 21-4 while former champion Nekeisha Blake stormed past Kevi-Ann Quamina 21-6, 21-8.