Plaza-Marcelle in Solo Bandminton final

NATIONAL player Avril Plaza-Marcelle booked a spot in the women’s singles final at the Solo Senior Badminton Championships at the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua, Tuesday night, with a match to spare after winning her opening two matches.

The women’s singles started with the round-robin stage which finished last night.

Plaza-Marcelle, representing Fins, defeated Johannah Walker (Shuttle Force) 21-19, 21-13 and Samurai’s Shania Lee 21-10, 21-7 in her first Group B round-robin matches. The only other player in Group B, Leanna Castanada, defaulted her first two matches on the opening night and was scheduled to play her final fixture against Marcelle last night. However, she also defaulted that match giving Marcelle an automatic berth into the final.

Marcelle will play the winner of Group A tonight.

Cheque­da de Boulet (Shuttle Force) and Nekeisha Blake (FMT) won both their Group A round-robin matches on the opening night, setting up a mouth-watering duel in last night’s decider.

De Boulet began her challenge with a comfortable 21-11, 21-3 win over FMT’s Demi Ramdial, and then doubled up with another convincing display, defeating Afiya Clarke 21-6, 21-5.

Blake, a national badminton triple-crown winner, also cruised through her first two matches against Ramdial (21-2, 21-10) and Clarke (21-5, 21-9).

Last evening, action continued in the men’s singles event with top-seeded Shuttle Force’s Allistair Espinoza taking on Reece Marcano in the first match.

Espionza entered the last eight stage following a 21-17, 21-9 win over Petrotrin PAP’s Vijai Samnarine.

Espinoza and de Boulet, representing Shuttle Force, entered the quarter-final round with a bye, as did their opponents last night, siblings Jeremy and Flavia Lewis (FMT). They opened the first of four mixed doubles quarter-final matches last night.

Action will continue tomorrow and conclude on Friday.