GUYANA finished their mixed team championships in the Li Ning BWF World Juniors Badminton Championships in Markham, Canada with a ranking of 32 out of 175 badminton-playing nations.

The young team, led by the number one-ranked female player in the country, Priyanna Ramdhani, bowed out of the competition after a defeat by a strong South African side. It was the second time that we have competed at the World Juniors after a 39th place finish at the 2005 event in Peru.

Ramdhani, the Caribbean number one-ranked U-17 female player, battled hard against Megan De Beer, but eventually lost a two-set clash in the Girls’ singles.  She lost the first game 24-22 and the second 21-14. The defeat sealed the fate of the Guyanese after they had lost the Mixed doubles and the Boys’ singles against the African nation.

In the Mixed team doubles Jayde DaSilva and Tyrese Jeffrey lost to Robert Summers and Chelsea Yiatses 6-2, 1-6, 7-21 while in the Boys’ singles Akili Haynes lost to Jarred Elliott 5-21, 9-21.

The closest the Guyanese came to victory was on Thursday when they lost to Kenya 2-3.  In that clash, we were ahead 2-1, before Kenya won two straight games.

The 16-year-old Ramdhani had defeated Krisha Ghia 21-13, 21-13 in the Girls’ singles, while Tyrese Jeffrey and Haynes had defeated Urjan Omit Shah and Ujval Omit Shah in the Boys’ doubles 21-19, 21-16.

Guyana, the only Caribbean team that qualified for the competition, had to battle a number of tough teams during the first week of the competition, including Singapore, the USA, Denmark and Austria.

A number of nations, including New Zealand, Poland, Mongolia, Uganda, Australia, Macau China and Slovakia finished below us in the rankings.

The Guyanese players will now focus on the Li Ning BWF Individual Championships that is scheduled to begin on Monday.