Urquhart, Barnes eye badminton triple crown

AMARA Urquhart and T'Shelle Barnes, both of TT, are in contention to win three titles in the Under-17 age group at the 2023 Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation Junior tournament on Sunday at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua.

Urquhart and Barnes won their Under-17 semi-final matches in the girls singles, girls doubles and mixed doubles categories.

In the girls singles semi-final, Urquhart defeated Jade Asmoredjo of Suriname 21-10, 21-8 to advance to the finals. In the girls doubles, Urquhart and Barnes got past the TT pair of Emily Lewis and Imani Monsegue 21-4, 21-5 and later in the day, Urquhart joined Aditya Maharaj in the mixed doubles to progress to the finals with a 17-21, 21-19, 21-10 win over Kaveer Ramoutar and Kara-Ashley Robertson.

Barnes won her singles semifinal over Lewis 21-5, 21-2 and paired Jace Smith in the mixed doubles semis to defeat Jamaicans Jorie Mcbean and Jade Ranger 21-14, 17-21, 21-17.

Smith teamed with Kaveer Ramoutar to defeat Yannic Inniss and Johnathan Julien 21-14, 21-17 in the boys doubles Under-17 semifinals in an all-TT showdown. In the other semi-final between two TT teams, Maharaj and Kiran Rampersad got past Jamahl Mason and Daryl Mendoza 21-6, 21-11.

In the Under-19 age group, top seed Nathaniel Finzi of Jamaica had to battle hard to get into the singles final. Finzi eventually advanced with a 17-21, 21-19, 21-13 win over TT's Ryan Sinanan. In the other semi-final, TT's Vishal Ramsubhag defeated Aaiden Ramcharan, also of TT, 21-12, 21-19.

In the girls Under-19 singles semi-finals, Barbadian Eboni Atherley got past Suriname's Chloe Poeketi 21-14, 21-5 and Sion Zeegelaar of Suriname was a 21-17, 22-20 winner over Bajan Shania Forde.

Matches are also being played in the Under-11, Under-13 and Under-15 age groups. Action continues at 10 am on Sunday.