1st South American Youth Games...Boxers give Guyana 1 silver 3 bronze;

1st South American Youth Games…Boxers give Guyana 1 silver 3 bronze;

Sep 26, 2013 Sports

Ramdhani into Badminton semis; Table Tennis duo suffers mixed fortunes

By Franklin Wilson in Peru
Guyana copped its first medals at the inaugural South American Youth Games (1SAYG) through its boxers, Travis Fraser who lost to Ruis Sanche of Ecuador in the 69kg final, heading the list with a silver medal.
Fraser’s teammates, Tefon Greene (49kg), Michael April (52kg) and Joel Williamson (56kg) all racked in bronze medals to ensure a 100% medal record for the four boxers that make up Guyana’s 23-

Guyana’s Chelsea Edghill (right) battles Chile’s Ortega Gomez

member team at these games which are taking place in Lima, Peru.
Fraser was the lone fighter in the ring yesterday, the others having concluded their bouts two days earlier. He looked composed against Sanche in his first fight of the tournament having drawn a bye to this match.
Like we have been reporting before, the different climate in terms of cold weather that is being experienced by the athletes did affect Fraser to some extent along with breathing. That apart though, Coach Wincel Thomas said he was very proud of his charges and the way they applied themselves despite the weather challenge and the salt air.
“I am really pleased with how the young boxers applied themselves, their discipline towards training twice a day sometimes and braving the cold weather here. They are a talented bunch and I expect much more from them in the future as long as they get the right training and exposure.”
Chef-de-Mission Dr. Karen Pilgrim was on hand to compliment the fighters for bringing glory to the land of their birth.
“I would like to say that you done Guyana proud, you applied yourselves and you have reaped the rewards of your hard work. The GOA and by extension, Guyana, are proud of your achievements here in Peru at these inaugural Games, keep up the good work,” she told the young men.
Ecuador contested all seven of the eight finals yesterday including the lone female bout which was won by A. Espinosa of Argentina (51kg) against C. Centeno.
Brazilian Silva Sontos won the 49kg clash against Venezuelan A. Zarraga. F. Gonzalez of Venezuela won the 52kg division with victory over L. Fernandez of Ecuador. The 56kg gold went to Ecuador’s Molina Rios over C. Bordon of Argentina.
Mena Chala (Ecuador) took the 60kg gold from A. H Mirando of Columbia; Brazilian D. A Coello was the winner of the 64kg final over B. Bennett of Ecuador while the 74kg gold was taken by Columbia’s Cara Meto over Mindi Minda of Ecuador.
Badminton
Narayan Ramdhani was in classical form when he overcame the tough challenge of Jesus Sanchez of Venezuela in a thrilling match to book a semifinal place against the number one seeded player, Lohaynny De Oliveira (Pan Am & South American Champ) of Brazil today from 09:30hrs.

National Glory! Chef-de-Mission Dr. Karen Pilgrim (3rd left) and Coach Wincel Thomas (right) pose with the medal winners yesterday from left, Travis Fraser (silver), Joel Williamson (bronze), Michael April (bronze) and Tefon Greene (bronze).

Ramdhani fought back from being a set down in his quarterfinal game against Sanchez 17-21. The young Guyanese shuttled back to take the second set, another close battle, 21-18. The final set was a thriller which Ramdhani won 22-20.
Earlier, the Guyanese lost to Soren Opti of Suriname in his final group game, 17-21 19-21 18-21.
Ambika Ramraj lost her final group game 21-2 21-2 to Daniela Marcias.
Table Tennis
The duo of Chelsea Edghill and Shemar Britton suffered mixed fortunes on the opening day of the Singles competition.
Britton won his first game against Santiago Kacowicz of Uruguay 9-11 11-9 11-5 11-7 but lost to Columbian Juan Riceuirte 13-11 7-11 6-11.
Edghill having lost a five set thriller to Ortega Gomez in her first game 9-11 12-10 5-11 11-9 10-12, also went under to Chandela of Argentina but rebounded to defeat Daniela Camino of Ecuador 11-9 8-11 11-8 5-11 11-9.
Both players are still in with a chance of advancing to the quarter final round, they will be in action again today. Athletics and Weightlifting will take centre stage from tomorrow as the Games continue.