Bronze for Guyana at Latin American TT c/ships
By Donald Duff
Stabroek News
May 20, 2004
Guyana's under-18 girls' team gained a bronze medal at the 10th Junior Latin American table tennis championships in Venezuela.
The team comprising Junior Caribbean girls champion Jody Ann Blake, Michelle John and Trenace Lowe ended in fourth position with seven points from two wins and three losses.
They lost by 3-0 margins to Brazil, Venezuela and Chile but defeated Mexico 3-1 and Guatemala 3-2.
A Guyana/ Mexico combination also gained a bronze medal in the girls' under-21 team event. That team comprised Guyana's Delisa Cummings and Mexicans Laura Rosales and Beatriz Blazquez and placed third in the four-team event.
In the under-21 boys' team event the Guyana team of Matthew Khan, Christopher Franklyn and Orin Hickerson ended in fifth place with their only win being a 3-0 blanking of El Salvador.
The junior boys team of Jonathan Sankar, Marlon Joseph and Zach Gonsalves ended in sixth place in the under-18 team event after to Guatemala 2-3 in the fifth and sixth-placed play-offs.
The team had ended the group play-offs in third position behind Venezuela and Chile.
Top seeds Brazil and Venezuela played both the girls and boys junior team finals and therefore qualified for the World junior championships in Kobe, Japan later this year.
In the girls final, Brazil defeated Venezuela 3-0 without any real chance for the host team while a 3-0 result also marked the boys final between the same two teams.
In the Under 21 category, there was double victory for Chile in girls and boys event while Venezuela occupied the runner-up spot in both divisions.
The individual singles will commence today.