… Rain washes out play at Diamond

NEW champions for the Inter-Guianas in tennis were crowned late yesterday afternoon, when Suriname came out top over hosts Guyana and French Guiana.

On Friday in Singles play, after 36 matches Suriname led the table with 60 points from 18 wins, followed by Guyana with 16 wins (54 points) and French Guiana third with two wins (45 points) and up to press time, while the final points tally was unavailable, Suriname had nine Doubles victories from yesterday’s action in comparison to Guyana’s seven and French Guiana one.
Seventeen matches were contested on another rain-marred day which saw all matches moved to the City after rain washed out play at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Diamond, East Bank Demerara-based courts.
As happened on Friday, the rain clouds rolled over with a heavy shower that suspended play for close to an hour and despite a mopping-up exercise, the rains had the final say, as around lunch, the decision was taken to discontinue matches on the water-logged courts.
The ladies were then shuttled into Georgetown where they contested their matches at the GBTI Bel Air courts, even as the Boys’ matches were under way at the private residence of Harry Panday, also in Bel Air.
Chronicle Sport picked up the final Boys’ Doubles match, an Under-18 fixture, between Guyana’s Khalif Gobin and Daniel Lopes and the Suriname pair of Dani Samson and Joshio Lor, which the visitors won.
Unlike the Girls’ U-18 match that was played simultaneously between Guyana and Suriname, there were no long rallies from the boys.
There were some aces, a few slams here and there, crafty and nifty ways of picking up points for both teams, but the Guyanese were perhaps guilty of being overconfident and at times complacent.
The animated Lopes was the more active of the Guyanese on the court, grunting and flicking his racquet into the air a few times. Power-hitter Gobin, was, by contrast more composed, though they shared a few fist pounds and smiles on the court.
On court two, Nicola Ramdyan and Aretta Dey found the going tough as they too lost to Suriname. Their rhythm and timing seemed off and even with the urging from the home crowd and coach Shelly Ann Ramdyhan, they could not come out of their rut.
The final female match, completed after the lights were switched on, featured Guyana’s Afruica Gentle and the diminutive Shivanie Persaud – some would say an odd combo, given their glaring physical attributes, but they gave Guyana something to cheer about as they defeated Suriname to bring the curtain down on the two-day tournament.
It was the first time in three decades that international tennis was played in Guyana.

(By Leeron Brumell)