Junior PanAm Games-Table Tennis

Dec 02, 2021 Sports

Guyanese fail to advance despite showing fight

‘This was best supported team in my memory’- Coach Lewis

By Sean Devers

Kaieteur News – With swimming, Boxing, Squash and Badminton failing to provide Medals for Guyana, the Guyanese pair of Table Tennis players Jonathan Van Lange and Miguel Wong went into action on Tuesday Evening in Cali Colombia in the inaugural Junior U-23 Pan American Games.

Coach Idi Lewis is flanked by Jonathan Van Lange (left) and Miguel Wong in Colombia.

However, despite some spirted Table Tennis against older, more experienced and better players, Guyana failed to advance to the podium rounds in the Championships which conclude on Saturday.
Playing in the U-21 Men’s singles 14-year-old Van Lange was beaten in four straight sets by Cuban Rene Mendez at the Coliseo Ramon Elias Lopez.
After going down 5-11 in the opening set, Van Lange demonstrated plenty of intestinal fortitude as the Multi-talented Guyanese, who also plays cricket for GCC, battled the Cuban point for point with some execelent rallies.
Twice in the game Van Lange survived ‘game point’ to eventually lose the set 10-12 before losing 8-11 and 7-11 in the next two sets to lose 4-0.
Wong was even more competitive against his opponent from Paraguay before going down 4-1 after taking the third set 11-8.
Sabastian Lopez eventually prevailed, winning 11-6, 10-12, 8-11, 5-11.

Jonathon VanLange (2)

In the Men’s doubles the Guyanese pair took the first set 11-9 with an array of clinical shots, but Lopez andElias Apud took the match 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8
Yesterday, speaking from the fifth largest country in Latin America, Guyana’s Coach Idi Lewis gave his views on the performances of his charges in Colombia.
“First I must give a special thank you to President Godfrey Munroe and executives of GTTA, G.O.A and all other sponsors and supporters,” said the former Caribbean Champion.
“The level of investment made in terms of preparation this was one of our best supported teams in my collected memory.

Miguel Wong

Jonathan at 14 years old showed he has a lot of talent, determination and fight. He held his own against a strong and more experienced player in Cuban Rene Mendez. He also still has alot of work to do on his foot-work serves and receive, he made some tactical errors at key points and that’s very costly on this level,” explained Lewis.
“Miguel had a great draw and we all expected a lot from him but for some reason he just couldn’t get his rhythm and that was a bit disappointing, so it’s back to the drawing board,” said Lewis, who coached Chelsea Edghill when she achieved a win in Guyana’s first-ever game in Table Tennis at the Olympic Games.

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