Guyana’s participation in the Pan Am Individual Badminton Championship ended without a medal, but the four-member team recorded Guyana’s best performance at the event in El Salvador.
Guyana, represented by Narayan Ramdhani, Priyanna Ramdhani, Akili Haynes and Tyrese Jeffery, reached the Round-of-16 in the Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles and the Quarter-Finals of the Men’s Doubles.
In the Men’s Singles Round-of-16, Narayan went up against Olympian Brian Yang, ranked number 33 in the world and also the number one seed in the tournament, and lost 21-2, 21-8.
Narayan has defeated Mickhaile Williams of Jamaica 21-8, 21-15 in the Round-of-32 after gaining a bye from the Round-of-64.
After also gaining a bye from the Round-of-64, Haynes lost to Jason Ma of the USA 21-12, 21-4 in the Round-of-32.
In the Mixed Doubles, Round-of-16, the Ramdhani siblings, Narayan and Priyanna, went up against Ty Alexander Lindeman and Josephine Wu of Canada and lost 21-11, 21-9, after they gained a walkover in the Round-of-32 and defeated Gavin Robinson and Monyata Riviera of Barbados 21-17, 21-17 in the Round-of-64.
In the Men’s Doubles, Quarter-Finals, Narayan and Nicholas Bonkowsky lost to Job Castillo and Luis Armando Navarro of Mexico 21-14, 21-7.
In the Round-of-16, they had defeated Victor Garcia and Carlos Rodriguez of El Salvador 21-16, 21-18, after gaining a bye from the Round-of-32.
In other results, Jeffrey lost 21-19, 21-6, 21-6 to Carlos Rodriguez of El Salvador in the Men’s Singles; Priyanna lost 21-15, 21-18 to Karolina Orellana Ardon of Guatemala in the Women’s Singles; and Haynes and Jeffrey lost 21-16, 21-9 to Kevin Lee and Tye Alexander Lindeman of Canada in the Men’s Doubles Round-of-32.
“The Guyana Badminton Association would like to commend the players for a great performance at this tournament, this is the furthest we have ever come in this highly ranked tournament, which provides a pathway for the players to qualify for the Pan Am Games 2023 in Chile,” the Guyana Badminton Association said.
“Once again gratitude is extended to the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport and the National Sports Commission for making this possible.”
To cap Guyana’s journey in the tournament, an award was presented posthumously to Gokarn Ramdhani for his contribution to Badminton in the Pan Am Region.
The award was received by his children Narayan and Priyanna Ramdhani.
Ramdhani, who passed in October 2021, served on the Executive Committee of Badminton Pan Am for some four years.
