Trinidad and Tobago’s women’s and men’s teams both advanced to the semifinals in the team competition of the 2025 Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Championships at the Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Gymnasium, Wildey, Barbados.
In the men’s competition on June 17, Cuba defeated T&T 3-0 in group play as Derron Douglas, Yuvraaj Dookram and Malik Gopaul were all on the losing end.
Douglas lost 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 to Adrian Perez; Dookram fell 11-2, 11-4, 11-3 to Jorge Campos; and Gopaul went under to Diomar Arguelle 11-7, 11-3, 11-7.
The women’s team including Rheann Chung, Chloe Fraser and Imani Edwards-Taylor were also on the losing end on the opening day, going down 3-0 to Puerto Rico.
Chung battled hard against Fabiola Diaz, but went down 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 as Puerto Rico took a 1-0 lead.
Puerto Rico continued their winning form as Brianna Burgos got past Fraser 11-5, 11-7, 11-4.
Edwards-Taylor tried to put T&T on the board, but Alondra Rodriguez was an 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 winner.
On June 18, the T&T men bounced back to defeat Jamaica 3-0 as Aaron Wilson, Douglas and Dookram all recorded victories to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
Wilson got the ball rolling for T&T with an 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 win over Azizi Johnson. Douglas was next up for T&T, delivered an 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 win over Kane Watson.
Dookram sealed the series for T&T by getting past Paulton Madden 11-8, 11-7, 11-7.
They then secured a hard-fought 3-2 victory over St. Lucia in the final eight.
Andre De Calderon got past Douglas 10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 to give St Lucia the lead, before Wilson levelled the series with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 victory over Manie Eleuthere.
Dookram gave T&T their first lead when he defeated Joshua Lubin 11-9, 11-6, 11-2.
St Lucia rebounded as Andre De Calderon got past Wilson 11-6, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4. Douglas sealed a spot for T&T in the semifinals with an 11-6, 13-11, 11-6 win over Eleuthere.
Their run ended in the final four, however, as Puerto Rico defeated them 3-1.
Brian Afanador opened the scoring for Puerto Rico with a, 11-2, 11-9, 11-3 win over Douglas while Angel Naranjo made it 2-0 with a 13-11, 11-5, 11-9 win over Wilson.
Dookram restored hope for the Trinidadians with a dominant 11-0, 11-0, 11-0 win over Oscar Birriel before Afanador beat Wilson 11-6, 12-10, 11-5 to seal victory.
On the women’s side, T&T redeemed themselves on June 18 with a 3-0 win over St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Fraser defeated Shanecia Delpesche 11-5, 11-3, 11-3; Chung beat Jessica McCarter 11-3, 11-2, 11-4; and Jordan Thong was an 11-2, 11-3, 11-6 winner over Leah Cumberbatch.
They were subsequently defeated 3-0 by Cuba in the semis. Daniela Fonseca defeated Fraser 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 before Rosalba Agiuar won a hard-fought five-setter against Chung 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7.
Estela Crespo sealed the win with an 11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6 victory over Edwards-Taylor.