by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

However for the Dominican Republic, there were testing times; after having recorded a three-nil win against the Barbados formation of Mark Dowell, Tyrese Knight and Marcus Smith; the trio comprising Mariano Lockward, Emil Santos and Isaac Vila found Panama’s Omer Avi-Tal, José Guerra and Jacobo Vahnish most worthy adversaries.

A three-two verdict was the end result, a contest in which, at the end of the second match, the Dominican Republic was in danger of defeat.

Mariano Lockward was beaten by Omer Avi-Tal (11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-6), before Emil Santos suffered at the hands of Jacobo Vahnish (11-9, 11-7, 11-8). It was at that stage the Dominican Republic revival began. Mariano Lockward and Isaac Vila combined win the doubles contest in opposition to Omer Avi-Tal and José Guerra (11-5, 11-5, 11-6), before Isaac Vila accounted for Jacobo Vahnish (11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5) to level matters.

The outcome in the balance, Emil Santos completed the fightback; he beat José Guerra (11-5, 11-6, 11-13, 11-5) to secure the final place.

Testing times for the Dominican Republic; for Guatemala, life was less exacting. Selecting Hector Gatica, Allan Guttierez and Kevin Montufar a three-nil quarter-final win was recorded against Guyana’s Nigel Bryan, Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin. Later with Heber Moscoso replacing Alan Guttierez, the same margin of victory was achieved in opposition to Venezuela who fielded the trio of José Miranda, Marco Navas and Luis Vanegas.

Earlier in the quarter-final round, choosing the same line-up as in the penultimate round, Panama had beaten El Salvador’s Julio Calderon, Oliver Mendoza and Oscar Villalta by three matches to nil; Venezuela represented by José Barcelo, Marco Navas and Luis Vanegas had posted a three-one success in opposition to the Trinidad and Tobago trio of Yuvraaj Dookram, Curtis Humphreys and Arun Roopnarine.

Defeats in the round of the last eight but there was more than consolation; all qualified to compete in the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games.

The final between the Dominican Republic and Guatemala is scheduled for 4.00pm (local time) on Friday 2nd March; there is no third place fixture.

Qualified teams (alphabetical order): Barbados, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

Direct entries by ranking (alphabetical order): Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico

Direct entry, host nation: Colombia

Central American and Caribbean Games Qualification Tournament: Participating Associations (Wednesday 28th February)

Central American and Caribbean Games Qualification Tournament: Men’s Team & Women’s Team – Seeding (Wednesday 28th February)

Qualification Tournament for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games: Results – Men’s Team (Thursday 1st March)

Qualification Tournament for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games: Detailed Results – Men’s Team (Thursday 1st March)

Qualification Tournament for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games: Results – Women’s Team (Thursday 1st March)

Qualification Tournament for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games: Detailed Results – Women’s Team (Thursday 1st March)

Qualification Tournament for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games: Qualification – Men’s Singles (Thursday 1st March)