Bajan men off to good start

Barbados made an encouraging start to their World Table Tennis Championship campaign as the men recorded back to back wins in the opening rounds of team competition in Dortmund, Germany, yesterday.
Playing in group “T” of Division 5, Barbados beat Nepal 3-1 in the opening match and then pulled off a hard fought 3-2 triumph over Iceland in their second group game.
Against Nepal, Mark Dowell gave Barbados a strong start, taking out Shiva Gothe 11-2, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9.
There was concern in the Barbados camp when Aaron Barker lost to Sushi Paudyal in a hard-fought five-game set that ended at nine in the decisive game, but Kevin Farley put the Bajans back on top by beating Ranjit Rayamajhi 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9.
Barker then made amends for his earlier failure by defeating Gothe 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-5.
There was greater drama in the second match when it took the heroics of Dowell to steer the Barbadian men home. He opened with a clinical performance against Magnus Magnusson, romping to victory 14-12, 11-9, 11-7.
There were major setbacks when Farley fell in straight games to Adam Hardarson and Barker succumbed to David Jonsson in identical fashion.
Farley levelled the scores by beating Magnusson 11-1, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7 leaving Dowell and Hardarson to square off in the decider. Dowell refused to be intimidated by his opponent’s earlier dominance over the Barbados top player and proceeded to beat Hardarson 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5 as Barbados earned a 3-2 triumph.
The men are competing in a group that includes Togo, Panama, Zambia, Iceland and Nepal.  
The women have been drawn in group “N” of division four alongside Pakistan, Tanzania, Lebanon and Cyprus.
The women’s team started in less than impressive fashion, being beaten 3-1 by Cyprus and 3-0 by Lebanon.