… Fung-A-Fat to play in Plate Finals
By Rawle Toney in Birmingham, England
IT will be a busy day for Guyana at the 2022 Commonwealth Games when action continues across Birmingham, England.
BOXING
Keevin Allicock (Featherweight) and Desmond Amsterdam (Middleweight) are set for a quarter-final battle in their respective divisions and a win for either boxer will see Guyana breaking their 32-year jinx at the Commonwealth Games.
After picking up a unanimous-decision victory over Sri Lanka’s Jeewantha Nisshanka in the Round-of-16, Allicock will face Canadian Keoma-Ali Al-Ahmadieh today.
Meanwhile, Standing in Amsterdam’s way to the podium, is Australia’s Callum Peters.
Amsterdam, a Sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), earned a split-decision victory over New Zealand’s Richardson Emile in the Round-of-16.
The last time Guyana won a medal in Boxing at the Commonwealth Games was at the 1990 Games in Auckland, New Zealand, when Wesley Christmas took bronze in the Bantamweight category.
SQUASH
Over at the University of Birmingham, Mary Fung-A-Fat will take on Sunayna Sara Kuruvilla of India in the final of the Women’s Plate competition.
Fung-A-Fat had faced Pakistan’s Amna Fayyaz in yesterday’s semis, and earned a 3-2 win.
The Guyanese had lost the first game 6-11 but rebounded to win the other two matches 11-5, 11-8.
Fayyaz bounced back to level things up when she took the next match 10-12. However, Fung-A-Fat closed out the tense battle, 11-9.
Also today, Round-of-32 action in the Mixed-Doubles will begin.
The Khalil siblings, Jason-Ray and Ashley, will showcase skills on Court 1 in the first match of the competition, when they take on Wales’ Petre Creed and Emily Whitlock.
Fung-A-Fat and Shomari Wiltshire will also partner to take on the Malaysian pair of Ainaa Amani and Addeen Idrakie.
TABLE TENNIS
The Women’s and Men’s Singles will commence today and the country’s best ‘paddlers’ will look to make amends for their Team results.
First up, Olympian Chelsea Edghill will have a go against Tammi Agari of Papua New Guinea and Fiji’s Titana Touea.
Priscilla Greaves is the next Guyanese in line and she’s expected to get past Seychelles’ Christy Bristol.
Natallie Cummings will have a rematch with Kalam Musfiquh after their meeting in the women’s Team competition, as well as a match with Millicent Ankude of Ghana.
Shemar Britton will start the men’s competition for Guyana, coming up against Ireland’s Owen Cathcart and later on, Ramhimlian Bawm of Bangladesh.
Debutant at the Commonwealth Games, Jonathan Van Lange opponents are Zack Wilson (Ireland) and Australia’s Finn Luu.
Christopher Franklin is down to show-up against Pakistan’s Fahad Khawaja and Mohutasin Ahmed Ridoy of Bangladesh.
Apart from Boxing, Guyana participants have not won a Table Tennis or Squash medal at the Commonwealth Games.
