Nabbie, Cassie grab badminton triple crown

Sheraz Nabbie and Leon Cassie were crowned triple winners at the National Junior Badminton Championships which concluded on Tuesday at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Chaguanas. Cassie, a Central Badminton Academy and Club (CBAC) member, was unbeaten in the under-13 category, retaining his singles title and grabbing the doubles and mixed doubles titles. In the singles, Cassie smashed club-mate, Avidesh Marajh, 21-8 and beat Shuttle Force’s, Michael Constantine 21-12, 21-14  to end with two points. Michael was second with one point, followed by Marajh. Cassie then teamed up with club-mate, Ananda Ramsingh, to clinch the mixed title over Britney and Constantine. However the CBAC pair did not have things easy, as they went under 19-21 in the first set, but bounced back 21-18, 21-19. Marajh tasted victory when he helped Cassie take the boys’ doubles crown. Marajh and Cassie were  too much for Marcus Alfonzo (Shuttle Force) and Vance Juteram (FMT) who lost (21-9, 21-17).

Nabbie dominated the under-17 category, beating Shuttle Force’s Adrian Nicholson 21-6 in the first set and  21-4 in the next  for the singles title. The Regal Smashers player teamed up with Cristars’ Tanya Rampersad to add the mixed doubles title against  CBAC’s Shanika Ramlochan and Naim Mohammed 21-12, 21-13. The boys’s doubles final saw Nabbie and Raphael Kelly trouncing Nicholson and Will Lee (21-13, 21-15). Jada Renales, Matthaus Wilford and Reba Fleary, also smashed their way into the spotlight as double winners. Renales snatched the girls’ under-15 singles title beating club-mate, Ralista Wong 21-4, 21-3. In the girls’ under-15 doubles however, Wong and Renales blew past Tanya and Tiffany Rampersad 21-7, 21-13. Top under-19 seeds Wilford and Fleary retained their singles titles respectively.

Zuwena James was no match for Fleary who cruised to a 21-8, 21-15 win. The FMT member claimed the girls’ doubles title with Samurai’s Akeila Pascall. The two did not drop a set in defeating CBAC’s Reneeta Ramsingh and Shannon Sundersingh (21-8, 21-9) and FMT’s Hanaleel Bones and Shenese Lalla (21-14, 21-9). The boys’ under-19 singles saw Wilford edge clubmate Jason Ramjass 21-18, 21-15. In the boys’ doubles, Wilford and Ramjass outbattled Shuttle Force’s Johann La Bastide and Brandon Constantine 21-9 and 30-29 in a thrilling contest. The seniors’ competition got underway yesterday with semifinal matches in the men’s and women’s singles and quarterfinal matches in the mixed and men’s 40-plus doubles being contested. The defending singles champions are Rahul Rampersad (men’s) and Nekeisha Blake (women’s). However, the five-time women’s champ would not be entering the tournament due to a recurrent back injury. Solangel Guzman is the favourite to take the women’s title.