While top-rated players like Julian “Michael Jackson” White and Marson Johnson have dominated their groups in the bid to claim the $10 000 first prize in the Monarch of the Court road tennis tournament, youngsters Dario Hinds, Ryan Hall and Jerry Harris have impressed the fans with their skills.
The final 16 who will advance to tomorrow’s battles took greater shape on Thursday night at Belfield and would have been finalised at the same venue last night.
On Thursday night, the top game proved to be a show-stopper between Hall of St Philip and young gun Darius “Baraccus” Gaskin.
Hall took the game 30-28 to end on six points, the same as Victor “Earth” Ward. However, a better points average will see Ward advancing from Group 1 with White, who finished with the maximum four wins and 12 points.
Last night both Mark “Venom” Griffith and Antoine “Li’l Man” Daniel were expected to formalise their advancement from Group Two. A victory would take Daniel to nine points and Griffith to six.
The unflappable Johnson had scored four wins to advance from Group 5 with a maximum 12 points, while it took a better points average for former national table tennis player Aaron Barker to pip Shawn Spencer, with both ending on six points.
On Thursday night Johnson defeated Edwin “Darkman” Ward 21-10, with Barker inflicting a 21-14 defeat on Ward, while Spencer went down to Andrew “Cripple” Holder 16-21.
Curtis Jones, making a return to action, topped Group 3 with nine points, the same as the dangerous Julien “Snake” Quimby who lost a heartbreaker to Jones 20-22 after being up 19-16.
Earlier, Quimby had stopped Jamal Branch 21-10 while Jones went under to Chesterfield “Boy-Boy” Brewster 21-23.
Hinds defeated Shibbir Greenidge 21-18 and former tennis star Abbie “Playboy” Clarke 21-19. Clarke had beaten Winston “Ballees” Padmore 21-15 while Arendell had stopped Padmore at 10 and then enjoyed a walkover from Shibbir.
Harris created some complexity for Group 8 with a win over Simon Bayne 21-16, with only Anderson Sealy, with two wins, in a position of security from Harris, Bayne, Michael Jean and Charles Griffith.
Davian “Force Ripe” Taylor failed to advance from Group 1 in spite of some challenges to the big guns where he lost 19-21 to White and defeated Victor Ward 21-19.
Hinds ended on a maximum 12 points from Group 6 to be better than the ranked David Arendell who netted nine points.
Quimby beat Branch 21-10, Anthony Simmons “Baku” Simmons cooled Alexander “Fyah” Clarke 21-18 and Jamal Branch defeated Allan Davidson 21-17, with only Simmons still in with a chance of making the final 16.
