Carebaco is the showpiece event for badminton in the Caribbean region. The Carebaco Juniors and Masters tournament served off the 2017 edition of the competition as one hundred and sixty athletes from Barbados; Dominican Republic; Guyana; Jamaica; Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago competed in five age categories for the honour of being crowned the top athletes in the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation grouping.
The Opening Ceremony took place on Saturday 12th August as the Minister of Sport for Trinidad and Tobago formally opened Carebaco 2017 with much fanfare. He reiterated that the new facility was important to sports tourism in the country and that he was confident that this would be a new chapter in the elevation of badminton in Trinidad and Tobago. German Valdez, Development Director of the Pan American Badminton Federation, iterated his pleasure at what he had witnessed during the tournament, saying that the players showed talent and ability.
The construction of the National Racquet Centre in Trinidad and Tobago has been a game changer for badminton. For the first time the Trinidad and Tobago Badminton Association has access to a multi-court facility which in this case allows six to eight matches to take place simultaneously. Barbados; Dominican Republic; Jamaica; Guyana; Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago converged on Trinidad to take part in the Carebaco 2017 Junior and Masters tournament as well as the Junior Team event between 10th and the 16th August.
The Trinidad and Tobago team amassed the largest number of medals, forty-four, both in this edition of the Carebaco Junior Individual and Masters event as well as in recent Carebaco events. However the first Triple Crown winner of the night came in the Under 15 division where Suriname’s Erisa Bleau swept away the competition to capture gold in the Girls’ Singles, Girls’ Doubles and Mixed Doubles categories.
Two athletes came close to capturing triple crowns in the Under 17 division, both falling one step short. Imani Mangroe (Suriname) and Priyanna Ramdhani (Guyana) both amassed two golds and one silver medal in the competition unable to surmount the final hurdle as they each lost to the other.
The Dominican Republic displayed its dominance of the Under 19 age group by capturing three of the five gold medals on offer. This was due in large part to the performance of Nairobi Jimenez who captured a triple crown in this division.
Not to be forgotten were the Masters competitors who showed that age is just a number and badminton can be enjoyed as a sport at all ages. Longevity in this sport is one of the reasons why it has such widespread appeal. The competition was fierce but in the end Andre Lewis and Derek Singh emerged victorious as champions of the Masters tournament in Carebaco 2017.
