TODAY at the Caribbean
Championships ...
Saturday 22nd, Day SIX, Team Finals
What a night for T&T ...
What a day ... pretty much every match went down to the wire,
throwing the schedule into chaos. At the end of the day - the
very end, five minutes to midnight - Trinidad and Tobago
completed a remarkable treble.
The news just got better and better as the night went on ... not
only did they claim their first ever CASA title, they made it a
hat-trick as they took the Men's Team, the Women's Team, and the
all-important Overall title to boot.
You couldn't have scripted it better - all the finals going the
full distance, and the home crowd, desperate for a win in the
final match of the championships, willing the women's team back
from two down against T&T, who themselves were going for an
unprecedented double.
To cut a long story short, T&T did it.
Such, such determined performances from Amy Gillzeau and Nakita
Poon Kong - and their opponents were giving it their all too,
but after two matches T&T were two to the good.
Cayman reckoned their experienced top pairing of
Marlene West
and Caroline Heal would probably win for them, but now it became
imperative that they did.
Marlene had to tough it out against
Kerrie Sample, Caroline cantered through her match, everyone
seemed to know it was pre-ordained to go to a decider.
That decider was as tense as it gets, but at 2-1 ahead Joanna Scoon took a good start to the fourth, and try as she might
Chantelle Day couldn't close the gap.
"This
is definitely my best CASA ever, the best organised I've seen
and the least stress I've had at any tournament.
"I've coached teams in the world juniors, the Asian juniors and
seniors, the South American and the European seniors, but as a
team performance this is by far the best I've ever seen. Rudy
started it off today in the Vets, and it just got better and
better. I've never been so proud of a team in my life, they were
absolutely unbelievable.
T&T coach
Men's Final
Barbados 2-3 Trinidad & Tobago 4 Mark Sealy 3-2 Ryan Abraham
11/6, 2/11, 11/7, 7/11, 1/0 rtd
5 Fabian Goodridge 3-2 Kale Wilson
10/12, 11/6, 9/11, 11/7, 11/8
1 Shawn Simpson 2-3 Colin Ramasra
8/11, 11/2, 5/11, 11/8, 8/11
2 Gavin Cumberbatch 1-3 Don Lee
4/11, 11/8, 9/11, 6/11
3 Bryant Cumberbatch 2-3 Paul Deverteuil
11/3, 11/6, 5/11, 4/11, 4/11
Trinidad take first ever CASA title
Trinidad & Tobago claimed their first ever CASA title here
tonight, but boy oh boy, did they do it the hard way.
Mark Sealy and Ryan Abraham were involved in a 'give
nothing' encounter in the first match. Ryan had just levelled it
at two-all, but after one point of the decider he collapsed in a
heap clutching his left calf.
"I thought I'd collided with Mark, I heard a bang and felt
something snap. But Mark says I never touched him, it looks like
I pulled something down there. It's frustrating, and I blame
myself, I really think I should have put it away 3/0."
Barbados went two up when Fabian Goodridge eventually
outran Kale Wilson in five fast-paced games. Two
youngsters who just love running, and never know when to stop,
the gave us a very entertaining match.
That
left T&T with a mountain to climb to prevent Barbados winning
the team title for the first time.
Colin Ramasra took them to base camp with a
well-controlled performance against Shawn Simpson.
Simpson has more reach and more power, but Colin buzzed around
the court, making it difficult and forcing the error count to
rise. He looked to have it in the bag at 2-1 up, and even though
Shawn took it to a fifth Colin stayed in control throughout the
decider.
Don Lee took T&T to the bottom of the north face, turning
in a display of delicate skills as he outmanoeuvred Gavin
Cumberbatch in four games.
The
final ascent was left to Paul Deverteuil, and at first it
looked decidedly too steep. Gavin's brother Bryant
Cumberbatch came out at a ferocious pace, overwhelming Paul
in the first two games.
But from the start of the third Paul seemed to have found the
answer, and from then on it was Bryant who was constantly under
pressure, forced to move where his opponent wanted him, and
forced into too many mistakes.
The fifth, the approach to the summit, came quickly to Paul, and
before long the whole T&T team were dancing for joy ...
"He
came out so fast, he really took me by surprise, but I couldn't
believe how badly I started.
"I've come from two down a few times, so I knew I could do it
again. Once I started to get to grip with his game I was able to
exert a bit of control, making him do the work instead.
"He couldn't play his whizz-bang game any more and started to
get frustrated, going for shots and hitting the tin.
"It's just fantastic for the team, and what a great way to win
it ..."
The final ascent ...
Men's 3rd/4th
Cayman 4-1 Jamaica 4 Dan Kneipp 3-1 Bruce Burrowes
11/4, 11/8, 4/11, 11/9.
5 David Finch 3-1 Anthony Dougall
7/11, 15/13, 11/8, 11/4
1 Dean Watson 0-3 Chris Binnie
0/11, 7/11, 10/12
2 Jake Kelly 3-2 Bruce Levy
11/5, 11/9, 7/11, 4/11, 11/7
3 Cameron Stafford 3-1 Joey Levy
11/4, 9/11, 11/3, 11/3
Barbados take third with
third-time lucky win for Meakins
The women's team Bronze was claimed by Barbados, but their match
against Guyana certainly didn't go as expected.
With
Guyana one short, Victoria Arjoon's opening win - 3-1 over
Natalie Chesham - was crucial if they were to stand a chance of
winning.
That set it up for individual champion Nicolette Fernandes to
put Guyana in the driving seat, but she came up against a more
determined than ever Karen Meakins in their third meeting of the
tournament.
All seemed to be going according to seeding as Nicolette took
the first, but fired-up Meakins stormed back, taking the next
two and establishing a 5-0 lead in the fourth. The win she so
desperately wanted looked as though it wasn't going to be
though, as Nicolette steadied and took the game 13-11 without
allowing her opponent a match-ball opportunity.
The chance was gone, we all thought. Well, except for Karen that
is - she came out firing in the fifth, took a 7-2 lead, pumping
herself up after every point won. That became 10-4, and although
Nicolette tested Karen's nerves by saving three times, the gap
was too big and Karen delightedly finished it off 11-7.
That left it to Cheri-Ann Parris to complete the win with a
powerful 3-0 victory over Keisha Jeffrey.
In the men's 3rd/4th Cayman beat Jamaica to give
themselves a good chance of overall victory, but by our
reckoning they probably need to win both the Vets and Women's
finals to do so ...
Maiden International win
for Rudy ... at 70
The last but one Vets' pool match saw T&T beat Jamaica 3-2 to
finish third, and the match marked a first win for T&T's Rudy
Celestine. At 70 years of age Rudy made his international
debut here this week, and rounded it off with a thrilling 3-2
win over Michael West, no spring chicken himself, at 65!
Both unbeaten coming into this final Vets' pool match, Cayman
and Barbados played the effective final, and it was the hosts
who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
True, Cayman started one up sine Barbados didn't bring an O50
woman player, but when Errol Pilgrimo and Sonia
Perkins both scored comfortable victories the home crowd
went pretty quiet.
They came to life when John Macrury, the 1997 CASA
champion, dug deep to see off the challenge of Nigel Griffiths.
Nigel has an incredible reach, and stretches down low for
anything at the front, returning with terrific disguise.
John was 2/1 and 7/2 ahead but simply couldn't put his opponent
away, and for a while had to give up putting anything short.
Nigel came back, earned game ball at 10-9, but a couple of
delicate volley drops put John back in command, and he took it
on his first match ball.
Better for Cayman, but the predictions were that Marlon White
would be able to clinch it for Barbados. Richard Hew was
having none of that though, and he played out of his skin,
taking a two-game lead and coming from well down in the third
before sealing the Vets title in front of a by now delirious
crowd.
"This
is definitely my best CASA ever, the best organised I've seen
and the least stress I've had at any tournament.
"He
came out so fast, he really took me by surprise, but I couldn't
believe how badly I started.
