by Ian Marshall, Editor
A selection change for Puerto Rico in the men’s event when compared with the team that had won the immediately preceding Lima 2019 Pan America Caribbean Qualification Tournament; Richard Jimenez remained but both Brian Afanador and Daniel Gonzalez returned to the old continent to fulfil European commitments.
They were replaced by the experienced Hector Berrios and an exciting talent in the guise of 14 year old Oscar Birriel. Equally in the Dominican Republic line up, Wu Jiaji was not in action; a young man to note, 17 year old Mariano Lockward appeared on the team sheet as did that of Isaac Vila. They joined Samuel Galvez and Emil Santos who had been on duty on the opening two days of action in Georgetown.
Changes but no changes to the end results for the respective top two seeds. One each occasion a 3-0 margin of victory was the outcome. Puerto Rico finished ahead of the Martinique outfit formed by Aymeric Cambusy-Crusol, Samuel Delphine and Matthieu Zephir with Guadeloupe’s Lionel Dinga, Christophe Lombardy and Amaud Tintin-Zachille in third place.
Likewise, the Dominican Republic selection was never troubled. They concluded matters ahead of the host nation combination of Joel Alleyne, Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin; third spot in the group being occupied by St Lucia’s Adrian Albert, De Calderon and Chris Wells.
Meanwhile, in the one remaining group, it was first place for Barbados who selected from Mark Dowell, Kevin Farley, Tyrese Knight and Marcus Smith. They recorded a 3-0 win against the St Vincent and Grenadines combination of Kavir Gaymes, Kamal Hunte and Romano Spencer, prior to securing a 3-1 success in opposition to Jamaica’s Mark Phillips, Simon Tomlinson and Kane Watson. The one player to cause the Barbadians problems was Kane Watson; in the third match of the fixture he beat Kevin Farley (11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4).
Alongside Martinique and Guyana, Jamaica finished in second position in the group and thus advanced to the main draw.
Success for the leading outfits on the opening day of the men’s team event; it was the same in the women’s team competition. Matters organized on a group basis, the top seeds, the Dominican Republic trio comprising Eva Brito, Esmerlyn Castro and Yasiris Ortiz remained unbeaten posting 3-0 wins in each occasion; a situation that applied also to the no.2 seeds, Guyana, who selected from Daniela Fonseca Carrazana, Natalie Cummings, Chelsea Edghill and Trenace Lowe.
Both outfits accounted for Martinique who selected Mévéna Avrila, Océane Miredin and Armelie Pruvost; in addition the Dominican Republic overcame Jamaica’s Dadrian Lewis, Sandra Riettie and Solesha Young, Guyana proved too strong for the Barbados outfit comprising Krystle Harvey, Janae Lewis and Anthonette Riley.
Play in both the men’s team and women’s team events continue on Wednesday 27th March.
2019 Caribbean Championships: Men’s Team – Results (Tuesday 26th March)
2019 Caribbean Championships: Women’s Team – Results (Tuesday 26th March)