Jamaica takes 7 Bronze medals, places third in Caribbean Cadet Table Tennis Championships

The Caribbean Mini-Cadet and pre-Cadet Table Tennis Tournament ended Monday with Jamaica walking away seven medals and the third place.

The final day of play saw Tsenaye Lewis, carving a place for Jamaica on the podium in the Under 13 Girls singles, beating her opponent from Dominican Republic in the quarter finals 3-0 before being bested by another Dom Rep player by 0-3.

In the end,  Puerto Rico emerged overall winner, followed by the Dominican Republic in second place.

The overall results of the 2019 tournament saw bronze medals for:

Tsenaye Lewis in the Under 13 Girls Singles Event
Olivia Petrekin and Liana Campbell  in the Girls Under 13 Team event
Azizi Johnson and Tsenaye Lewis in the Mixed Doubles Under 13
Matthew Fung and Olivia Peterkin for Mixed Doubles Under 13
Liana Campbell  and Olivia Petrekin in the Girls Under 13 Doubles Girls
Nickoy Smith and Gari Whyte for Under 11 Team event
Gari Whyte and Nickoy Smith for Under 11 Doubles Boys

Hindered by not having had all members of the team and one less coach due to financial constraints, the 11 players nevertheless showed big heart as they battled through the rounds, held over  five days in the Dominican Republic.  The standard of play was very high in the competition with the Jamaican team playing very well throughout. An important marker was Jamaica’s performance in games against the home team which saw over 14 wins against the home team, including an Under 11 Mixed Doubles match with Kirah Scott and  Gari Whyte winning 3 – 0, and a close singles match where Rasheed Clarke won 3-2 . A standout match saw the mixed doubles pair of Azizi Johnson and Tsenaye Lewis stunning Puerto Rico’s Yadier Lopez and Aurora Cortes 3-2.

The Jamaican team consists of Azizi Johnson, Matthew Fung, Rasheed Clarke, Gari Wythe, Nicoy Smith and Jaden Ebanks on the Boys side while female members are Tsenaye Lewis, Olivia Petrekin, Liana Campbell and sisters Neveah Scott and Kirah Scott. The team received sponsorship from Optical Solutions International Limited.

Participating countries were Jamaica, Aruba, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.