Trinidad and Tobago capped off their inaugural International Badminton Tournament campaign by capturing two bronze medals in the Men’s and Women’s Doubles events on the penultimate night of action at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sporting Arena, Tacarigua, on Saturday.
And even though both local teams were on the losing end of their respective semi-final match-ups, they still emerged joint third along with other losing semi-finalists.
In the male semifinal, an experienced Alistair Espinoza teamed with the youthful Will Lee to face Mexicans Luis Ramon Garrido/ Lino Munoz. The TT duo tried valiantly to stay within contention but was dominated by the visitors losing out 10-21, 9-21. Espinoza and Lee shared the bronze with William Cabrera/ Nelson Javier (Dominican Republic), who lost the other semi-final 8-21, 19-21 to second seeded Mexican team, Job Castillo/ Antonio Ocegueda.
In the women’s equivalent, Trinidad and Tobago Squash Association (TTSA) public relations officer Kamasha Robertson joined forces with Avril Plaza Marcelle to duel with Mexicans Haramara Gaitan/ Sabrina Solis.
Like the men, the local women did not match-up well with their rivals and were eventually conquered 9-21, 11-21 by the in-form Mexican pair. Robertson/ Marcelle split their third place finish with Chileans Tingting Chou/ Camila Macaya, who went down 11-21, 12-21 at the hands of female second seeds, Cynthia Gonzalez/ Mariana Ugalde (Mexico).
Meanwhile, Men’s Singles fifth seed Martin Giuffre (Canada) may have caused the upset of the tournament of Saturday night as he eliminated current Pan American champion and the division’s second ranked player, Osleni Guerrero (Cuba), in a tightly contested encounter. Guerrero won the opening game 19-21 and seemed set for the victory.
However, Giuffre had other plans and levelled with a 21-19 win in the second. Into the third and decisive game, the Canadian showed his promise against the ace Cuban by producing a 21-16 victory to advance to last night’s coveted finals. Additionally, up to press time last night the championship matches in all categories got underway. However, there were no local representatives vying for gold.
Other Results:
Men Singles Semi-Finals
Luis Ramon Garrido (Mexico) bt Rosario Maddaloni (Mexico) 21-15, 21-17; Martin Giuffre (Canada) bt Osleni Guerrero (Cuba) 19-21, 21-19, 21-16.
Women’s Singles Semi-Finals
Jeanine Cicognini (Italy) bt Camilla Garcia (Canada) 21-15, 21-14; Elisabeth Baldauf (Austria) bt Haramara Gaitan (Mexico) 21-18, 21-18.
Mixed Doubles
Lino Munoz/ Cynthia Gonzalez (Mexico) bt Ivan Leon/ Camilla Macaya (Chile) 21-11, 21-15; David Obernosterer/ Elisabeth Baldauf (Austria) bt Job Castillo/ Sabrina Solis 21-12, 21-14.