Carelyn Cordero Steers Puerto Rico to Shore on First Day in Central America

August 10, 2012

Courtesy of ITTF

The winner in Malta and Mexico, in second place on the ITTF Junior Circuit Girls’ Standings, Carelyn Cordero steered Puerto Rico to top place in their group on the first day of play, Thursday August 9, 2012, in the Junior Girls’ Team event at the Guatemala Junior and Cadet Open.

Seeded no.1, Puerto Rico was stretched to the limit on their first visit to the table, with Carelyn Cordero saving Caribbean blushes by winning both her two singles matches.

Against Cuba’s Idalys Lovet and El Salvador’s Yancy Urias, she beat the former in the opening match (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6), before in the deciding duel of the fixture, overcoming Yancy Urias (11-5, 11-7, 11-9).

Spirited Recovery
The one further win for the Puerto Ricans came from Daniely Rios; she overcame Yancy Urias (11-7, 11-7, 11-6).

Seemingly, the Puerto Ricans were in control of the contest but a doubles reverse (11-13, 12-14, 11-5, 11-9) combined with success for Idalys Lovet against Daniely Rios (11-13, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10) did cause Puerto Rican alarm bells to ring.

More Comfortable for Second Seeds
A scare in the opening fixture for the top seeds but no such troubles in the second fixture; they beat Guatemala ‘A’ (Mabelyn Enriquez, Analdy Lopez) by three matches to nil.

A quite meritorious win; the Guatemalans were in form. One fixture earlier they had beaten Idalys Lovet and Yancy Urias by three matches to nil.

Never Extended Full Distance
Difficulties for Puerto Rico but less so for the second and third seeded teams; both finished in first place in their respective groups without being extended the full five match distance.

Sweden, the second seeds, with Linda Bergström and Maria Engelson on duty beat Guatemala’s Andrea Montufar, who partnered Trinidad and Tobago’s Renuka Sitram, by three matches to nil, before posting a three-one win over Venezuela; a duel where Winberly Montero caused the problems.

She beat Maria Engelson in the second match of the fixture (11-7, 4-11, 11-6, 14-12). However, wins for Linda Bergström over Gremlis Arvelo (5-11, 12-10, 11-4, 13-11) and for Maria Engelson over the same player (5-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7) added to a doubles success (11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6) secured a Swedish victory.

Similar
Similarly, the third seeded outfit comprising the Dominican Republic’s Eva Brito and Uruguay’s Maria-Pia Lorenzotti opened their program in style before experiencing difficulties.

They beat Guatemala ‘B’ by three matches to nil for whom, Nicte Enriquez and Keila Ramirez played in the singles before the latter joined Nancy Hernandez for the doubles, to make a positive start to their campaign before concluding matters with a three-one success against Puerto Rico ‘B’.

Mainstay
Mainstay of the victory for the third seeds was Maria-Pia Lorenzotti.

She beat Nicole Torres (11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 7-11, 11-2) and Melanie Diaz (11-6, 13-11, 4-11, 13-11); whilst teaming with Eva Brito to secure the doubles against Melanie Diaz and Nicole Torres (11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 16-14). The one win for Puerto Rico came from Melanie Diaz; in the first match of the fixture, she beat Eva Brito (6-11, 11-7, 14-12, 11-8).

Shock Group Winner
Matters as predicted in the Junior Girls’ Team event but in the Cadet Girls’ Team competition there was an upset.

India ‘B’ represented by Akhika Mukerjee and Sagarika Mukerjee beat top seeds Hung Hung and Kuo Chia-Yun by three matches to nil to secure first place in the group.

However, there was consolation for Chinese Taipei. Both teams beat the combination of Trinidad and Tobago’s Brittany Joseph and Ishana Deb of the United States in addition to the outfit formed by Caterine Agustin and Mechael Norales by three matches to nil.

Consolation
Thus India ‘B’ finished in first place with Chinese Taipei second; the top two teams in each group progress to the main draw.

More Indian Success
Success for India ‘A’ and there was success for India ‘B’; the no.2 seeds.

They beat Mexico (Maria Espinosa, Samantha Pio) by three matches to nil before posting a brace of three-one victories with Priyadarshini Das the player in form.

Against Puerto Rico, she beat Gabriela Diaz (11-4, 11-6, 11-8) and Caroline Resto (6-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6) whilst teaming with Sumana Saha to win the doubles against Gabriela Diaz and Caroline Resto (11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 11-9). The one success for Puerto Rico came from Caroline Resto; in the second match of the fixture, she accounted for Sumana Saha (12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4).

Similar
Similarly against Ecuador’s Nikole Maldonado and Guatemala`s Dulce Rivera, Priyadarshini Das was impressive.

She beat Nikole Maldonado (11-8, 11-7, 11-7) before joining forces with Sumana Saha to secure the doubles against Nikole Maldonado and Dulce Rivera (11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8). The one further win for India came from Sumana Saha. She beat Nikole Maldonado (11-4, 11-9, 6-11, 15-13), after having being beaten by Dulce Rivera (11-9, 13-11, 12-10).

Seeds Succeed
Success for the second seeds in the first stage of the Cadet Girls’ Team event and it was success for the third seeds but only just.

Venezuela, with Neridee Niño and Josmary Lucena in action beat Guatemala ‘B’ (Marilena Belteton, Madelyn Salazar) by three matches to nil before succeeding by the same margin against the duo formed by Anthonette Riley of Barbados and the Dominican Republic’s Kicia Diaz.

Different Story
However, in the concluding contest it was a far different story; they were extended the full five match distance by the El Savador duo of Emme Areas and Andrea Galeano.

The player to cause the third seeds problems was Emme Areas. She beat both Josmary Lucena (11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7) and Neridee Niño (11-6, 11-9, 11-7) but that was the sum total of the challenge.

Neridee Niño beat Andrea Galeano (11-7, 12-10, 11-8) in the second match of the fixture as did Josmary Lucena in the final match (11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4). The one further win for the Venezuelans came in the doubles where Neridee Niño and Josmary Lucena beat Emme Areas and Andrea Gaeano (8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9).

Main Draw Place
El Salvador, finished in second place in the group having recorded three-nils on their two previous visits to the table.