GUYANA’S 20-year-old Michelle John was the player to cause raised eyebrows as matters commenced in the first stage of proceedings in the Women’s Singles event at the Central American and Caribbean Games CAC) in Puerto Rico yesterday. She was the one player to cause an upset, beating the host nation’s Jerica Marrero, the No.10 seed, in three straight games in her opening duel.
An upset, according to the seeding, but not according to history; they had met on two previous occasions in competitions in the Caribbean region of the world and on both occasions the young lady from Guyana had prevailed.

FOCUSED
Throughout the contest John was calm, totally focused and seized the opportunity when a chance arose; perhaps there was a very good reason for her attitude, her approach and her ability to see an opponent who was starting to wilt.
Michelle John who hails from Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, is currently studying psychology at Lindenwood University in St Charles, Missouri, United States of America.

BIG MATCHES
The world’s great players will tell you that in the big matches, the number one factor is the mental approach, a strong mind.
Michelle John certainly showed that in San German on the sixth morning of play and clearly has a deep understanding of the mental attributes that can affect sport.

CONFIDENT
“Yes. I’d beaten Jerica before, so I was confident before the match,” said Michelle John who clearly had approached the contest in the right frame of mind.
“Today I tried to be energetic and make sure I was the first to attack,” added Michelle John. “I tried to play without fear and to be positive.”
She did just that.

LEADING LIGHTS PROGRESS
Success for Michelle John and also for the leading names; Colombia’s Paula Medina and Joahana Araque, Venezuela’s Fabiola Ramos and Mexico’s Yadira Silva all came through their opening matches without trouble as did one other name of note.

DANGEROUS FLOATER
Not seeded, owing to not having competed internationally in recent years and therefore having forfeited her world ranking, the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xu, unbeaten in singles matches in the Women’s Team event, also emerged successful.
She recorded a straight-games win over Guatemala’s Mabelyn Enriquez. (ITTF.COM)