T-tennis men go down fighting

ANDERSON CARRINGTON, Mark Dowell and Trevor Farley pulled out all the stops but it was not enough, as Barbados’ participation in the table tennis competition at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San German, Puerto Rico, ended yesterday.All three were eliminated in the first round of the knock-out phase after producing high-quality table tennis to qualify from the group exchanges.Dowell lost his best-of-seven contest in straight games to Henry Majica 14-16, 9-11, 8-11, 11-13 but three of the four games ended with the smallest possible difference in scores.Dowell played a strong forehand attacking game and was also effective in the backhand, but his Venezuelan opponent, with a silver and a bronze medal already secured from the team event and mixed doubles, was the better player on the day.Luis Diaz, another Venezuelan with silver and bronze medals already in his grasp, ended Farley’s impressive run in the tournament but only after the plucky Barbadian had put up admirable resistance.  Farley won the first game 17-15, lost the second at two, but then went ahead in the set after winning the next game 11-6.  Then came two heartbreaking losses for Farley, at 10-12 on each occasion. This put the Venezuelan up 3-2 and Diaz went on to close out the set by beating Farley 11-6 in the sixth game.Carrington’s battle with Emil Santos of the Dominican Republic was even more intense, with Carrington narrowly losing the first game, coming back to lead 2-1 and then levelling 3-3 after falling behind.  Santos booked his passage into the second round by beating the former Caribbean under-23 champion 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6 None of the Barbadian women advanced from the group stage. (PH)