By Shammi Kowlessar

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CARIBBEAN junior champions Amara Urquhart and Asia Lee Waller struck gold for Trinidad and Tobago in the Costa Rica Junior Badminton Championships, on Monday.

Waller reached two singles finals and came away with one title. After going down 21-8, 21-18 against Guatemalan Paulina Cifuentes in the Under-15 title match, the two-time CAREBACO (Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation) Under-13 Triple Crown champion crushed Zoe Rodriguez of Costa Rica 21-2, 21-10 for her age-group crown.

Her sister Isabelle Waller had whipped Urquhart’s sister Aliyah in the Under-19 semis, but she was no match for older sibling Amara, going down 21-8, 21-8 against the two-time CAREBACO champ in the final.

Liam Persad and Samiya Karim were the other T&T players who had to settle for silver medals in singles. The latter, who was crowned CAREBACO doubles champ last month in Barbados, was defeated 21-15, 21-16 in the Under-17 final by Valentina Zapata, after the Costa Ricans had taken down Aliyah 21-15, 21-11 in the last four.

And Guatemalan Andreas Caceros dismissed CAREBACO champ Persad 21-10, 21-16 for the Under-15 title.

Aditya Maharaj, who did not play in CAREBACO after being the Under-19 bronze-medallist and doubles champ last year, was beaten 21-11, 2-16 by top seed and eventual champ Ethan Salazar of Costa Rica in the Under-19 semis.