Debutants Make a Mark – World Juniors

Text by BWF

Trinidad & Tobago, playing their first BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships, notched their first win in Nanchang despite missing their women’s doubles players.

The Caribbeans, whose women’s doubles players stayed home due to health reasons, have been able to field only three players in all their ties – Vishal Ramsubhag, Jace Smith and Samiya Karim. After finishing last in their group and now competing for positions 33-40, they held off Mongolia in a tense finish in women’s singles, 110-106.

“It means a lot. It’s our first time and we’re happy we could at least have a win over Mongolia,” said Smith.

Mongolia led for the most part, and by the seventh match, were up 66-50. Ramsubhag and Smith in the second men’s doubles kept the Caribbeans in the hunt, as they narrowed the deficit to just four. When it went to the final match between Saniya Karim and Mongolia’s Tselmeg-Od Enkhlen, Trinidad & Tobago were up by 11 points.

Enkhlen threatened to take the tie Mongolia’s way, but Karim just about helped her team breast the tape at 110-106.

“I’m still nervous. I still can’t believe we won the tie,” said Karim. “It’s our first time at the World Juniors and it’s an unreal experience. I was shaking. I was telling myself to keep going, that it’s just a few points.”

“Of course we believed,” said Ramsubhag. “We never lost faith. It was frightful, though. We’ve made a mark – that was the goal. (For the future) we will keep going harder and harder, until we beat Denmark!”