By Avenash Ramzan
Guyana’s quest for gold at the Inter-Guiana Goodwill Games was severely derailed by a rampant Suriname side that romped to a clean sweep of all five categories on Saturday morning at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.
Such was Dutch-speaking nation’s dominance that they won four of categories in straight sets, with Guyana salvaging a set in the Boys Doubles.
The day’s action opened with the Boys Singles, which saw Juan Delprado giving the visiting team a winning start, by defeating Jonathon Mangra, Guyana’s leading male player at the Games, a 21-11, 21-17.
In a clash of two seasoned players in the Girls Singles, Suriname again prevailed with Santusha Ramzan outplaying Guyana’s top female player Priyanna Ramdhani 21-15, 21-14.
This was followed by the Boys Doubles, which produced Guyana’s best showing on the day. Juan Delprado and Jasha Atmodikromo teamed up to take on Mangra and Ronald Chang Yuen of Guyana.
The Surinamese took the opening set 21-15, before Guyana stormed to win a closely-fought second set 21-19. However, Delprado and Atmodikromo held their nerves to close out the game 21-18.
In the Girls Doubles, the Guyanese pair of Kara Abrams and Ambika Ramraj lost 21-7, 21-18 to Imani Mangroe and Chan Chan Yang, while in the Mixed Doubles, Guyana’s Priyanna Ramdhani and Ronald Chang Yuen turned in a brilliant effort, but lost 21-16, 21-16 to Atmodikromo and Ramzan.
Reflecting on the performance of his players, Guyana’s coach Gokarn Ramdhani said the age gap between the players may have been a reason for his county having to settle for silver.
“First of all, the Suriname team, they’re 18 years of age. Our team comprises some 14-year-old, 15-year-old, 16 and 17. The only 18-year-old we had was Ronald Chang Yuen. Other than that, our top player Narayan Ramdhani is not here, if he was here definitely it would have been gold for us. That’s the benefit of having a good player, you know it’s like Barcelona without [Lionel] Messi,” Ramdhani explained.
Speaking on the positives that could be derived from the game, Ramdhani pointed out, “We saw some pairing off strategies, which is excellent for our players. We just got to work a little bit more and build up the younger players.”
Suriname’s coach Eugene Ramzan was understandably elated with the clean sweep. He said the players have been training since the last Inter-Guiana Games, which were held in Suriname in 2014.
Cover photo caption: Coach Eugene Ramzan (left) with members of the victorious Suriname team (Photos: Avenash Ramzan)
