FORMER Caribbean U-21 Men’s Singles winner, Shemar Britton, battled back from 1-2 down to win the Trinbago Men’s Singles Open Table Tennis title over the weekend at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua, Trinidad.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport after the game, the Guyanese said that he was elated with the win.

“It was great, to be honest, a very challenging tournament; so I’m just happy I was able to come out on top.”

Winning the male prize at the prestigious event was no easy task for the Trinidad-based Guyanese student, since some 100 participants battled for the title.

He defeated all opponents in the first round to advance to the round of 64, while he advanced to the round of 32 with a 3-0 win over Wayne Oudit.  He then made light work of Sean Michael with another 3-0 victory, before he got past Abraham Francis by a 3-1 margin in the round of 16.

In his quarterfinals match-up, he defeated former Caribbean Junior Silver Medallist, Luc O’ Young, by a 3-0 score-line to advance to the semifinals, where he defeated the experienced and dominant Caribbean player, Curtis Humprey, by a 3-1 margin to advance to the finals against Arun Roopnarine.

MORE AGGRESSIVE
Victory against the tactical Roopnarine was no easy task.  The highly-ranked Trinidadian player was up 2-1 early, but Britton had to think outside of the box to counter him for an eventual 3-2 (4-11 11-6 10-12 11-7 11-8) victory.

“I just started trusting my game more and being more aggressive, especially on the service receive. I’ve played Arun countless times in regional battles all over the Caribbean, so he knows my game quite well. I had to stop being predictable and take some shots I won’t normally take.”

Britton now has his sights set on the upcoming WASA Table Tennis Club Invitational Team Table Tennis Championships.