Foster
Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA WILL come home with at least two bronze medals from the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships currently being held in Puerto Rico.
After Jamaica had a fifth place finish in the male team events on Wednesday, teenager Yvonne Foster teamed up with Mexican Aura Pequeño in the female doubles where she mined bronze.
Foster's alliance with the Mexican came at the request of the Mexican team, who had an extra player.
First the 13-year-old, the sole female Jamaican competitor, combined to beat a Trinidad and Tobago pair in the first round, a Puerto Rican pair in quarter-finals, before losing to the Bajan pair of Sabrina Worrel and Khrystle Harvey in the semis.
Then she again surprised her audience, making it to a second semi-final on Thursday.
Upsetting first the pair of Juan Villa of the Dominican Republic and Pequeño, Foster and Moo-Young then shocked the favourites, former Caribbean singles champion Trevor Farley and Khrystle Harvey of Barbados in the quarters.
The Jamaican pair secured the bronze, losing to eventual winners Abbey Clarke and Sherrice Felix, also from Barbados, in the semi finals.
SURPRISE
According to Jamaica's team manager Cecile McCormack, Foster's performance was a pleasant surprise.
"Her performance went above our expectations. All her games became the games to watch," she said.
The team manager also thought Foster was aggressive about going for winners and had high conversion rates.
Speaking to Foster over the telephone, she sounded pleased that she was able to perform better than she had in the past but still thought there was room for improvement.
"I think I could have done better but maybe next time," she told The Gleaner.
"I reached further this time than I did the last time," she added.
Foster was also a part of the female singles competition but failed to advance past the first round.
However, she still has the under-21 singles competition to look forward to today.
"I want to win the Under-21 competition tomorrow," she told The Gleaner yesterday.
After the conclusion of the Caribbean Championships, young Foster will turn her attention to the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Colombia next month.
"I expect to do well at the CAC Games but I know that there will be a lot of competition there," said Foster.
The male doubles team of Christopher Marsh and Nigel Webb failed to make it past the quarter-final stage.
The doubles team of Joseph Dibbs and Peter Moo-Young suffered the same fate.
