THE Suriname table tennis players at this year’s Inter Guiana “Goodwill” Games were no match for the Guyana team, which took a clean-sweep of the wins as the table tennis competition of the Games concluded yesterday,at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue.Backed by the likes of Caribbean bronze medalist Shemar Britton, and Elishaba Johnson on the boys team, and Priscilla Greaves and Naveah Clarkston on the girls side, Guyana won all ten of the matches played yesterday. The competition included 4 singles and a doubles match each for both the boys and girls side.
Britton started things off with a straight set win against Suriname’s Adesh Jawhir, winning 11-5, 11-3, 11-1.Johnson then trounced Jared Sodgea 11-2, 11-4, 11-7.
In the boys doubles match,Johnson teamed up with Nicholas Romain to form a powerhouse team that took on Jawhir and Soogea.
After losing the first two set 8-11, 3-11, Jawhir and Soogea managed to hold the Guyanese at bay enough to take the third set 11-8;but as the fourth set got underway the Surinamese could only get in seven points by the time Romain and Johnson wrapped up the set.
Britton was then back at the table to secure another straight set singles win, this time beating Jared 11-6, 11-4, 11-1.
Romain came up against Kono Abas, and wrapped up Guyana’s final boys’ team win in a four set battle that played out 11-7, 11-3, 10-12, 12-10.
In the girls’ matches,it was Greaves who played Guyana’s opening and closing matches to earn straight set wins. In the first match,she defeated Kristel Wijntuin 11-2, 11-4, 11-3.She was back at it again to take out Sharifa Hooghart 11-6, 11-5, 11-2.
In between Greaves’ two games,Clarkston triumphed 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 over Hooghart.Guyana’s Selena Jackman took on Wijntuin and Hooghart.Jackman also defeated Janily Tamrin 11-4,11-2,13-11.
The doubles match saw Jackman and Phillips putting together a straight-set win that ended in three identical 11-5 sets.
Yesterday’s table tennis win followed Guyana’s victory in the athletics competition on Saturday night, when the locals almost made a clean-sweep of the wins in that completion. Athletics and table tennis were two of seven disciplines that were contested at the Games,which concluded yesterday. Swimming, badminton, volleyball, basketball and futsal were the other disciplines..