The Guyana girls team of John and Trenace Lowe ended as runners-up in the pre-cadet or under-13 division. They rallied from a poor start losing to Cuba and Puerto Rico by 3-2 margins; despite playing with a player short they subsequently posted wins over Chile 3-2 and Peru 3-1 to end in second position behind Cuba.

John and Lowe also captured a silver medal in the under-13 girls doubles.

John then teamed up with a Dominican Republic player to earn a bronze medal in the under-13 mixed doubles. She capped her fine display with another bronze medal, this time in the girls under-13 singles event.

And coach Linden Johnson, who returned home yesterday along with the four-member team of John, Lowe, Zach Gonsalves and Tristan Gaime was loud in his praise of the Guyana team especially since they played with a player short in both the boys and girls categories.

The Guyana team ended in fifth position out of 10 competing countries.

Johnson said the aim of the tournament was to select some eight boys and eight girls per division to represent the South American hemisphere at the World Cadet Championships to be held in Malaysia in conjunction with the World Junior Championships finals from 28th October -3rd November 2003.

However, none of the Guyanese players were selected but Johnson said the players’ performances augured well for the long-term future of the sport.

“I think the players performed fairly alright as the standard of tennis played during the championships was of a really high standard,” he told Stabroek Sport yesterday.

“Against Chile, whom we defeated 3-2, Trenace Lowe was down 8-10 in the fifth game but took the next four points to earn us a crucial win,” Johnson said.

Johnson explained that the lone game won by Peru in the team’s 3-1 win came from a walkover because they were a player short.

The boys team of Gonsalves and Gaime also played with a player short but found the under-15 category they contested a bit stiffer. They lost by 3-0 margins to Cuba and defending champions Chile and were eliminated from the team competition.

The two fared not much better in the singles competition where they failed to advance from their group preliminary games.

John reached the second round of the girls under-15 category and Lowe was eliminated after a three-way tie in her group saw her being edged out. Johnson said so heartening was the team’s performance that they have been invited by Chile to participate in an under-15 tournament in October.