By Ainsley Walters, Staff Reporter
Hylton
JAMAICA LAST night crashed out of the men's team event of the Caribbean Table Tennis Champion-ships at the University of Technology (UTech), losing their final event 1-3 to Puerto Rico, a result which kept the hosts on four points with Curacao at the bottom of Group II.
It was Jamaica's third loss of the day after going down 2-3 to Trinidad in the morning session and 0-3 against the strong Dominican Republic in their evening match-up.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on six points each, meet at 10:00 this morning to decide group winners and runners-up.
Barbados and Venezuela, on six points apiece atop Group I, will also square-off at 10:00 for group honours ahead of the 4:00 p.m. semi-finals and position playoffs.
The final is scheduled for 6:30.
Opening the tournament with a convincing 3-0 whipping of Curacao Saturday night, Jamaica had hoped to upset Puerto Rico following their stumble against Trinidad and Dominican Republic wipe-out.
However, only veteran Stephen Hylton could manage a victory from the three-man team. After watching England-born Darren Blake dash a 2-0 lead, going down 2-3 in his best-of-five set against Santiago Costa, Hylton excited the partisan sprinkling of spectators inside the Alfred Sangster Auditorium with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Juan Revelles.
HYLTON RALLIED
Beaten comprehensively by Revelles 6-11 in his opening game, Hylton rallied to take the second game 11-7 and the third 11-6 to take a 2-1 lead in the set. The three-time Caribbean champion then fought back from 3-7 down to tie Revelles at deuce in the fourth game but the Puerto Rican prevailed to tie the set at 2-2.
In the fifth and decisive game, Hylton stretched his lead from 7-5 to 10-5 before taking the set 11-7.
Hylton's win locked the event at 1-1 but teammate Nigel Webb was afterwards outclassed 9-11, 7-11 and 5-11 by Hector Benios in their match-up, giving Puerto Rico a 2-1 lead.
Blake next faced Revelles in the reverse singles and crashed out 7-11, 3-11 and 9-11.
Jamaica coach Joseph Dibbs afterwards said his young team put up a gallant fight with the help of Hylton, who came out of retirement for the tournament.
"It was a hard game," he said. "We have a young team and had the assistance of Stephen Hylton, who played well. The guys are in training and hopefully we'll perform better at the next championships."
Meanwhile, former Caribbean men's singles champion Dexter St. Louis put up a strong showing in Trinidad's 2-3 loss against the Dominican Republic, putting his side 1-0 up in the first game before beating Pan Am gold medallist Lin Ju in the fourth to tie the event at 2-2.
OTHER MEN'S RESULTS
Other men's results from yesterday: 10:00 a.m. Barbados 3, St. Vincent 0; Guyanan 3, Dominica 0; Puerto Rico 3, Curacao 0. 4:00 p.m. Barbados 3, Dominica 0.
In women's team action, Trinidad and defending champions Venezuela clash to decide Group I semi-finalists this morning and Barbados will face the Dominican Republic in Group II.
The championship continues tomorrow with doubles play and singles action from Wednesday through to Friday's final day.
