T&T’s Chloe Fraser and Jordan Thong came up short, ending this country’s 13-year gold medal drought in the doubles competition at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Americas Caribbean Youth Championships in the Dominican Republic Wednesday.
This was after pre-match favourites Fraser and Thong suffered an 11-13, 12-10, 12-10, 3-11, and 4-11 defeat and were upstaged by the combination of Antigua and Barbuda’s Stuti Kashyap and St Lucian Shatal Charles in the title match, coming up short in their bid to join 2012 mixed doubles Under-18 winners Arun Roopnarine and Catherine Spicer as gold medal winners in the doubles at the regional age-group championships.
The silver medal carried T&T’s medal haul to four, after the Under-15 Boys’ and Under-19 Girls’ and Boys’ Teams won bronze last weekend.
When matches resumed yesterday morning, Fraser and Thong, who were on a round-of-16 bye, swept past the Dominican Republic’s Emilsa Guzman and Larimar Hernandez 11-7, 11-5, and 11-4, while T&T’s Jannah Mohammed and Aruba’s Mikha Boekhoudt were stopped by Kashyap and Charles 9-11, 4-11, and 4-11 after both teams were handed round-of-16 byes as well.
Fraser and Thong, part of the girls’ team which secured a bronze medal in the team competition last Saturday, then dismissed Puerto Ricans Valentina Davila and Emrly Alvarado 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, and 11-9 in their final-four clash, while Kashyap and Charles outclassed the Dominican Republic’s Eduanni Mercedes Figueroa and Yesmeily Guerrero 11-7, 13-15, 11-6, and 11-7.
However, in the Under-19 Boys Doubles quarterfinals, T&T’s Malik Gopaul and Jonathan Cottoy just missed out on a medal after going under to Puerto Ricans Ryan Cuadro and Sebastian Cruz Ruiz in five sets, 11-9, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5, 6-11.
Gopaul and Cottoy had beaten the Dominican Republic’s Samuel Fersobe and Dianelgi Severino 11-6, 11-5, 12-14, 10-12, and 11-9 in their last-16 match.
Fraser continued her medal hunt in the singles competition when she reached the semifinals of the Under-19 Girls’ singles competition, while emerging starlet Jannah Mohammed also secured a spot in the Under-14 Girls’ singles semifinals.
The 17-year-old Fraser first won her best-of-seven round-of-16 meeting with the Dominican Republic’s Eduanni Figueroa 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, and 11-6 before she came from behind to defeat Puerto Rico’s Kailyn Cruz Rosado 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9, and 11-3 in her quarterfinal to set up a meeting today between the winner of the encounter between Arianna Estrella of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico’s Valentina Davila.
In the round of 16, T&T’s Jordan Thong was stopped by Estrella 11-7, 3-11, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, and 9-11, while Davila was on a bye.
On Monday, in the round-robin phase, Fraser was the first T&T player to qualify from her group series when she topped Group Three with wins over Dominican Republic’s Arianna Mejia (11-2, 11-6, 11-7) and St Lucian Shatal Charles (11-6, 11-7, 11-8) for a 2-0 win-loss record.
Thong, meanwhile, was beaten by host player Dafne Sosa 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, and 8-11 in her opener but rebounded with an 11-4, 11-3, and 11-8 win against another hometown player, Lorimar Hernandez, to end in the second spot with a 1-1 record in Group Five to reach the knockout stage.
In the Girls Under-15 singles, Mohammed secured a bronze medal finish at the very least when she won her best-of-five quarterfinal meeting with Puerto Rico’s Brianna Rodriguez 12-10, 9-11, 11-5, and 11-8 and will face another Puerto Rican, Aurora Bonome, in today’s semifinal from 10.15 am after the latter won her final-four meeting with Dominican Republic’s Dixsany Silverio 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, and 11-5.
When the round-robin phase took place on Monday, Mohammed pulled out all the stops to beat Violet Jimenez 11-3, 11-9, 10-12, 9-11, and 12-10 to secure the second spot in Group Five to advance.
In her opener, Mohammed crushed Jamaican Tahierra Allison 11-2, 11-4, and 11-5 but then went under to hometown player Eliana Martinez, 3-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, and 11-13. The other semifinal will feature the Dominican Republic’s Lesli Perez and Puerto Rico’s Milena Valle Rivera.
The two other T&T players to reach yesterday’s singles main draw, Mateo Mollineau and Josiah Joseph, reached as far as the quarterfinals before falling in their respective quarterfinals.
Joseph advanced to the Under-19 singles quarterfinals after a tense 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 win over the Dominican Republic’s Alexander Perez but then fell in straight sets to Puerto Rico’s Esteban Ayala 8-11, 5-11, 2-11, 6-11.
In the round-robin phase, Joseph was the lone player among the four entrants to emerge from his qualifying series, while Malik Gopaul, Jonathan Cottoy and Raees Elahie bowed out.
This was after Joseph battled past Barbadian Mikail Mark 8-11, 11-5, 11-3, 6-11, and 11-8 after losing his Group Two curtain-raiser against Dominican Republic’s Rafael Cabrera 2-11, 5-11, and 5-11 to secure the runner-up spot in the pool.
In the Under-15 Boys’ round-of-16, T&T’s Mateo Mollineau battled past Barbadian Maleeq Aimey 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9 before he was stopped by Puerto Rico’s Angel Melendez in straight sets 8-11, 4-11, 4-11 with a semifinal spot at stake.
