Barbados secured a silver medal as the Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation Pre-Cadet Championships ended in the Dominican Republic on Sunday.
The success came through left- handed attacking player Stephen Payne, the captain of the Barbados Under-13 team that also included Akeel Lovell and Joshua Walcott.
It was a positive note on which to end the tournament for Barbados, having earlier been eliminated without reward in the team competition and the doubles.
Payne put himself in medal position by topping his group in the preliminary stage with wins over Jevon Francis of Aruba (11-5, 11-3, 11-2) and Reynaldo Eugenio of St Martin (11-6, 11-1, 11-1).
Payne, who represents Fast Loopers in the Division Two table tennis club championship, beat Oliver Nunez of the Dominican Republic 3-0 to advance to the semi-final where he toppled the highly touted Trinidadian Aaron Wilson 11-7, 11-8, 3-11, 3-11, 11-9.
It was a result that produced a wave of emotional reactions on both sides. Tears flowed freely following a result highly pleasing to the Barbadians and totally shocking to the Trinidadians as Wilson had brushed aside Payne in the team championships a couple days earlier.
Much had been expected of the Trinidian youngster who last year was selected by the International Table Tennis Federation for special training.
Payne, who attends Queens College, was beaten by the Dominican Republic’s Emmanuel Lozano in the gold medal match 11-1, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7.
Both Walcott and Lovell competed in the group exchanges but failed to advance to the main draw.
Secretary of the Barbados Table Tennis Association, Marguerita Felix, who worked tirelessly to get the team to the Dominican Republic with limited resources, was extremely happy with Payne’s performance.
“I am really impressed. This is a great achievement. It is a culmination of the development programme we carried out that was financed through Olympic Solidarity. The expert ITTF coach Mohamed Gharib not only worked with the local coaches, but recognizing the raw talent here in Barbados, he did lots of work with the players as well,” Felix told NATIONSPORT.
“Our local coaches have done well, but lots of praise must also go to Gharib, Olympic Solidarity, the Barbados Olympic Association and the National Sports Council,” she said.
“Our development programme has allowed us to achieve this and was also instrumental in Rashad King’s gold medal success at the Special Olympics in Greece earlier this month.”
The Barbados team will return home at 7:30 p.m today.
