Jamaica cop 7 bronze medals for 3rd place at Caribbean Cadet TT Championships
The Caribbean Mini-Cadet and Pre-Cadet Table Tennis Tournament ended Monday with Jamaica walking away with seven medals for third place.
The final day of play saw Tsenaye Lewis carving a place for Jamaica on the podium in the Under-13 girls’ singles, beating her opponent from the Dominican Republic in the quarter-finals 3-0, before being bested by another Dom Rep player by 0-3.
In the end, Puerto Rico emerged overall winners, followed by the Dominican Republic in second place.
Hindered by not having had all members of the team and one less coach due to financial constraints, the 11 players nevertheless showed big heart as they battled through the rounds, held over five days in the Dominican Republic. The standard of play was very high in the competition, with the Jamaican team playing very well throughout. An important marker was Jamaica’s performance in games against the home team, which saw over 14 wins, including an Under-11 mixed doubles match with Kirah Scott and Gari Whyte winning 3-0, and a close singles match where Rasheed Clarke won 3-2.
A stand out match saw the mixed doubles pair of Azizi Johnson and Tsenaye Lewis stunning Puerto Rico’s Yadier Lopez and Aurora Cortes 3-2.
The overall results of the 2019 tournament saw bronze medals for Tsenaye Lewis in the Under-13 girls’s singles event; Olivia Petrekin and Liana Campbell in the girls’ Under-13 team event; Azizi Johnson and Tsenaye Lewis in the mixed doubles Under-13; Matthew Fung and Olivia Peterkin for mixed doubles Under-13; Liana Campbell and Olivia Petrekin in the girls’ Under-13 doubles; Nickoy Smith and Gari Whyte for Under-11 team event, and Gari Whyte and Nickoy Smith for boys’ Under-11 doubles.
The Jamaican team consists of Azizi Johnson, Matthew Fung, Rasheed Clarke, Gari Whyte, Nikcoy Smith and Jaden Ebanks on the boys’ side, while female members were Tsenaye Lewis, Olivia Petrekin, Liana Campbell and sisters Neveah Scott and Kirah Scott.
The team received sponsorship from Optical Solutions International Limited.
Participating countries were Jamaica, Aruba, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
