France-based Rheann Chung led Trinidad and Tobago’s-women’s table-tennis team to a semi-final spot at the Qualifying Event for the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games which ends tomorrow in El Salvador. However, T&T’s men were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by the home team El Salvador.
Nevertheless, both teams have qualified for the CAC Games to be held in Veracruz, Mexico from November 14-30.
The T&T women’s team consisting of Chung, Catherine Spicer and Ashley Quashie, are due to meet Venezuela in one semi-final today, while Cuba take on Guatemala in the other.
T&T fended off strong challenges from Jamaica (3-2) and Guatemala (3-1), before sweeping past Guyana (3-0). Caribbean rivals Jamaica provided the toughest opposition, taking T&T to a five-match marathon in the opening tie. Chung gave T&T a 1-0 lead, with a straight sets 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 victory over Jamaican Dardrian Lewis, before Yvonne Foster beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Spicer 3-2 to level the tie at 1-1.
The Jamaicans took a 2-1 lead after winning the doubles, before Chung beat Foster to level the series 2-2. It was then left to Spicer to beat Lewis to give T&T the match by a 3-2 margin. Spicer won the first two sets 11-9, 12-10 and Lewis won the third 13-11, before the T&T woman won the third at 11-7.
Meanwhile, France-based Dexter St Louis, Curtis Humphreys and Aaron Wilson formed the T&T men’s team, which also won three preliminary round matches against St Kitts-Nevis (3-0), Guyana (3-0) and St Vincent & the Grenadines (3-0). But hosts El Salvador were more difficult opponents at the quarter-final stage. The home team won 3-1 to eliminate T&T.
El Salvador’s Jose Donedo beat both St Louis and Humphreys. First, Donedo took a three-set victory over St Louis 11-9, 11-4, 11-9, but had a tougher fight against Humphreys, who took two sets off the El Salvador number one, before losing by a 3-2 margin. Humphreys went down 3-2 to Eric Alves, while Wilson won the only match for T&T, when defeating Davi Diaz 11-3, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8.