COMMONWEALTH GAMES: Mixed fortunes for table tennis; squash win-less

The Commonwealth Games continued in Gold Coast, Australia, on Friday with Guyana having mixed fortunes in table tennis, while the squash players lost all their games.

In table tennis, the Women’s team, competing in Group Four, defeated Vanuata 3-2, but were humbled in quarter-final one, beaten 3-0 by Singapore.

In the clash against Vanuata, Guyana got wins from Natalie Cummings, Trenace Lowe and Priscilla Greaves. Cummings defeated Stephanie Qwea 11-7, 11-6, 11-5; Lowe got the better of Anolyn Lulu 11-5, 11-9, 11-3; and Greaves topped Qwea 11-7, 11-5, 11-3.

Vanuata’s two wins came from Priscilla Tommy, who defeated Lowe 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, and Tommy and Lulu, who teamed up to get past Greaves and Cummings 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in the Doubles.

Against Singapore, Lowe lost 3-11, 2-11, 3-11 to Mengyu Yu; Cummings battled to a 5-11, 2-11, 11-9, 4-11 defeat; and Greaves and Cummings lost 2-11, 4-11, 2-11 in the Doubles to Yihan Zhou and Ye Lin.

The Men’s table tennis team, competing in Group Two, defeated Ghana 3-1, but failed to get past the Round of 16, losing 3-0 to Canada.

Against Ghana, Guyana got victories from Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin in the Singles and the pair of Franklin and Nigel Bryan in the Doubles. Britton defeated Felix Lartey 11-8, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8; Franklin prevailed 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 over Lartey; and Franklin and Bryan teamed up to defeat Bernard Sam and Derek Abrefa 11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

Abrefa got Ghana’s lone win, an 11-2, 9-11, 11-2, 12-10 success over Bryan.

Against Canada, Britton lost 7-11, 7-11, 2-11 to Zhen Wang; Franklin lost 2-11, 7-11, 6-11 to Marko Medjugorac; and Bryan and Franklin lost 13-15, 5-11, 7-11 to Medjugorac and Antoine Bernadet in the Doubles.

In squash, Jason Ray-Khalil lost 7-11, 6-11, 9-11 to Jules Snagg of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Men’s Singles Plate Round of 32; Taylor Fernandes suffered a 3-11, 4-11, 4-11 loss at the hands of Sri Lankan Mihiliya Methsarani in the Women’s Singles Plate Quarter-final, while Mary Fung-A-Fat also lost in straight at the same stage, going down 3-11, 9-11, 8-11 to Meagan Best of Barbados.