France-based Dexter St Louis and 14-year-old top ranked local Curtis Humphreys played unbeaten as T&T booked a spot in today’s quarterfinal of the men’s team event at the 54th Senior Caribbean Table-Tennis Federation Championship in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, yesterday. The pair topped their three-team round-robin series.  St Louis, Humphreys, 14-year-old Arun Roopnarine and Kyle Borneo lived up to their top seed billing among the 12 teams, by sweeping tenth ranked Curacao 3-0 and then humbling eighth seeded Guadeloupe, 3-1. In the clash with Curacao, the local men, who won the title in 2009 to end a 29-year drought and was second last year in Guyana behind Dominican Republic, got off to a perfect start via four-times singles champ St Louis, who defeated Michael Dalnoot 11-7, 11-5, 11-5.  Humphreys then battled past Dimitri Leon 11-5, 11-8, 12-10 before debutant Roopnarine marked his entrant to the senior level with a polished 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 beating of Erick Van Venedaal to seal the 3-0 victory. Against Guadeloupe, the local trio had a little more resistance with Humphreys being taken to five sets before beating Cedric Cideme 10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9 while St Louis spanked Arnaud Labique 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 to set up another clincher for Roopnarine. However, this time around, the T&T teenager could not come away with the win and was beaten by Gregory Cuirassier 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11.
But that was as close as the French-speaking island got, as St Louis returned to sweep past Cideme 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 to complete a second series win for T&T. The three other groups consisted of Puerto Rico, St Lucia and 12 Haiti (Group Two); Dominican Republic, Guyana and French Guiana (Group Three) and Jamaica,5 Barbados and Aruba (Group Four)
Meanwhile, the T&T women’s team of Brittany Joseph, Ashley Quashie, Linda Partap-Boodhan and France-based Rheann Chung, the step-daughter of St Louis was in third spot, along with Guyana after two rounds of matches in the six-team tournament. This after losing to Guyana, 2-3 and rebounding to brush aside Barbados in their second match. Quashie was upstaged by Guyana’s Trenace Lowe 12-10, 7-11, 3-11, 3-11 but Chung, the reigning Caribbean singles title-holder and four-time winner, got her team level by whipping Chelsea Edghill 11-8, 11-9, 11-5. The see-saw swung in Guyana’s favour in the third match after Partap-Boodhan was beaten by Natalie Cummings in five tough sets 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 9-11. However, Chung came to her team’s rescue battling past Lowe 8-11, 8-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-3 to force a fifth and deciding contest where Quashie suffered an 11-13, 11-7, 7-11, 3-11 to Edghill.
The second ranked T&T women squad which features 14-year-old national senior women’s champion Brittany Joseph had much better fortune against the Barbadians rivals with Chung crushing Krystle Harvey  11-3, 11-2, 11-3; Quashie outlasting Angela Reid 7-11, 3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 12-10 and Partap-Boodhan overcoming Anthonette Riley 11-1, 10-12, 11-5, 11-5
Top seeded Dominican Republic blanked Jamaica and Guyana by 3-0 margins while joint-leaders Puerto Rico, ranked fourth, had similar victories over Barbados and Jamaica. Last night, T&T faced Jamaica while they also meet Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to complete women’s round-robin play. The team competition is expected to end today while there will also be competition in the men and women singles, doubles, mixed doubles, Under-21 singles, doubles and mixed doubles as well as veterans (Over-45). Last year, St Louis, who won his fourth singles crown in 2009 came up short in his quest for a fifth men’s title after going under to Dominican Republic’s Juan Vila in the gold medal match 15-13, 9-11, 5-11, 7-11, 8-11 while Humphreys was a losing semifinalist. St Louis and Chung are also the defending mixed doubles champion and six-time winners while St Louis and Humphreys got silver in the mixed doubles, and Chung and nine-time national women’s champion, Aleena Edwards, silver in the women’s doubles last time out. However, Edwards who went under to Joseph in the national semifinals earlier this year is unavailable. Joseph and Roopnarine will also compete in the Under-21 Championships while US-based Dayanand Maharaj competes in the Over-45 (Masters) Division.
By Nigel Simon
Source: www.guardian.co.tt