World Youth Contender Test Proves Challenging for Eleuthere

Manie Eleuthere, an emerging table tennis player from Saint Lucia, faced a tough week at the World Table Tennis Youth Contender Series in Caracas, Venezuela, achieving just a single victory. The champion from Ciceron Secondary School experienced four individual defeats across both the Under-17 and Under-19 boys' categories while also participating in mixed doubles at the Popper and Lopez Sports Centre.In the U17 division, Eleuthere encountered fierce competition from prominent regional and international athletes. He lost to India's Bhaskar Sugra 3-1 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 6-11) and narrowly fell to Venezuela’s Moises Martinez in a tightly contested 3-2 match (11-9, 8-11, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10). However, he secured a victory against Venezuela's Aram Perez (11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8), finishing third in Group 8.The U19 challenges included a loss against Colombia's Daniel Cruz (3-1, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6) and a narrow defeat to Mateo Capella (3-2), despite an early lead. Eleuthere also competed in mixed doubles with Antigua & Barbuda's Stuti Kashyap, reaching the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Venezuelan duo Jesus Tovar and Dakota Ferrer.