Bajan men struggle at Table Tennis Championships

Barbados’ men remain winless after their opening two matches at the ITTF-Americas Central American & Caribbean Championships in Santo Domingo, which got underway on Thursday.

In their opener, the Bajans were blanked 3-0 by Puerto Rico in the men’s team competition.

Puerto Rico’s Steven Moreno defeated Barbadian Tyrese Knight 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, Angel Naranjo stopped Mark Dowell 11-3, 11-5, 11-3 and Enrique Rios beat Tre Riley 11-7, 11-10, 11-5.

In Friday’s game, Barbados put up a better effort but still went down 3-0 to Costa Rica.  

Sebastien Alviles was forced to dig deep before defeating Barbadian Mark Dowell 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3, 11-6. Jeison Martinez then lost the first set before rebounding to defeat Tyrese Knight 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 14-12 and Alejandro Montoya also dropped a set, but eventually defeated Tre Riley 13-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9.

The other English-speaking Caribbean teams also struggled, as Cuba defeated St Lucia 3-2, Mexico blanked Guyana 3-0, while Cuba also defeated St Lucia 3-0.

Meanwhile, Guatemala and Dominican Republic had 3-0 wins over St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica respectively, while Puerto Rico also defeated Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.

Jamaica rebounded later in the session, to claim a 3-1 over St Lucia.

(KH)