By STEPHON NICHOLAS Thursday, August 19 2010

TRINIDAD and Tobago captured five medals at the El Salvador stop of the World Junior Table Tennis Circuit to add to the seven earned in Guatemala last week.

Ten countries participated in this WJC event in El Salvador including Hong Kong, Slovakia, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, TT and the hosts El Salvador.

Catherine Spicer and partner Natalia Gasio of Mexico upset favourites Hong Kong to win the gold in the Cadet Doubles final. The pair beat Hong Kong’s Desire Hung and Yuen Wai Ng 11-7, 14-12, 5-11, 11-9 to take the title after beating El Salvador’s Mariela Monge and Margarita Ortiz 6-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 in the “semis”.

Catherine and Natalia claimed bronze in the Cadet Girls Team event after losing to the Hong Kong pair in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, TT’s Arun Roopnarine and Ian Aulestia of Ecuador earned two bronze medals in the Cadet Boys Team and Doubles events. In the Team event, the TT/Ecuador pair lost 3-1 to El Salvador “A” in the semifinal after beat the El Salvador “C” team in the quarterfinal 3-0.

Roopnarine and Aulestia had earlier beaten Mexico, Panama “B” and El Salvador “B” to top group “C”.

In the Cadet Boys Doubles, the TT/Ecuador duo lost in the semi-final to the El Salvador “A” team of Eric Aviles and Julio Calderon 3-1 after getting past El Salvador ‘B’ 3-0.

TT’s Renuka Sitram and Guatemala’s Diana Meda placed third in the Junior Team event, losing to the El Salvador “A” pair of Ana Henriquez and Martha Morales 3-0.

In the Singles category, Catherine Spicer qualified from the Cadet and Junior group stages while Arun Roopnarine advanced from the Junior Singles group but were unable to continue as they had to leave to catch a flight out of El Salvador on Sunday morning.

National coach Bob Roopnarine successfully attained the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Basic Referee Certificate which will allow him to officiate as Tournament Director for ITTF sanctioned events locally and regionally.

Twelve-year-old Arun Roopnarine finished with six medals despite competing in his first World Junior Circuit tournament and is expected to debut on the world cadet and junior making next month.

Catherine Spicer, currently ranked 149th on the world cadet list, also had excellent performances and her ranking should improve.

Renuka Sitram, the least experienced player, performed creditably and should learn a lot competing against some of the top players in the region.