Women’s team finished fifth in Table tennis at Commonwealth Games

Guyana’s Women’s team (L-R): Chelsea Edghill, Natalie Cummings, Prescilla Greaves and Thuaria Thomas

Guyana’s Women’s team to the Commonwealth games 2022 finished fifth when their commonwealth games run concluded on Sunday.

When Natalie Cummings and Chelsea Edghill fell today in the Round-of-16 of the Women’s Doubles to New Zealand’s Chunyi Feng and Yangzi Liu, it brought the end of that discipline’s participation. The New Zealand pair defeated Cummings and Edghill 3 - 0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-4).

Earlier in the tournament, the duo had defeated their South African counterparts Zodwa Maphanga and Jayavant Patel 4-1 (11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8) to set up a Round-of-16 clash with Feng and Liu.

The Guyanese duo had a remarkable run, all while creating history along the way, becoming the first female pair to reach the Round-of-16.

Guyana, however, finished fifth.

However, Guyana’s paddlers served their way into the annals of the sport’s history, thanks to Natalie Cummings in the singles and doubles with Chelsea Edghill and Men’s doubles pair Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin.

Guyana’s Men’s team (L-R): Christopher Franklin, Shemar Britton, Jonathan Van Lange, and Joel Alleyne.

Cummings played classic commonwealth games where she went on to win a seven-set nail-biting round-of-32 match against Mauritius’ Ruqayyah Kinoo of Mauritius.

The win placed Cummings and Guyana in the Round-of-16, where she would eventually lose 0-4 to Wales’ 16-year-old prodigy, Anna Hursey.

Debutant and teen sensations Thauria Thomas and Johnathan Van Lange showed a lot of promise at their first Commonwealth Games, despite not getting out of the first round of their respective competitions.

Asked about the country’s performance at the Commonwealth Games, Coach Idi Lewis said the players did better than expected but were critical of the lack of investment in the sport locally.

“When you take into consideration the team’s preparation coming into these games and coming up against more heavily-funded athletes at these games, I think they’re performing way beyond expectations right now,” Lewis said.

Lewis stated that in comparison to the players at the 22nd Commonwealth Games, the Table Tennis team overachieved.