J'cans take top honours

JAMAICA'S badminton players claimed top honours at the Georgia Open tournament which came to a close on Monday.

Leading the charge was Charles Pyne who won the A Division Men's Singles title 15-4, 15-7 over the defending champion Rohit Percash from North Carolina.

Laxton O'Connor won the B Division Men's title over Yaowu Zhao of Tennessee 15-6, 15-8.

In the Men's Doubles event, Pyne and O'Connor lost in the semi-finals after a controversial call was made against them.

They lost the first set 16-17 in a very close encounter but rallied back to win the second 15-11. They trailed in the third set but managed to rally to level the scores at 12-all. The controversial call broke their concentration and their opponents went on to win 15-12.

In the Mixed Doubles, top local club player Carl Lewis and Antoinette Hawthorn, a member of the national junior team, managed to win the title over Robert Nogueda (California) and Anna Chien (Florida) 15-11, 8-15, 17-15. That was the first victory for the junior in an international senior event.

In the Ladies section Kerri Swaby, a Jamaican based in Atlanta, took the Ladies Doubles event with Hawthorn 15-9, 15-4 over Mignon Henry and Titiana Blane of Florida.

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