JAMAICANS continued to advance in all categories in the 2014 staging of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF)/National Commercial Bank (NCB) Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Championships at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at the University of Technology (UTech) Papine Campus on Wednesday night.

Jamaica’s Shaquille Palmer created a major upset when he defeated T&T’s top senior player Kerwyn Pantin 21-13 and 21-19 in the quarter-finals of the Open men’s singles to reach his first major semi-final in a senior tournament.

Number-one seed Gareth Henry, who has been struggling with injuries, managed to get past T&T’s Keston Friday 18-21, 21-11 and 25-23; creating another upset was Anthony McNee, who stopped the number-two seed Andre Padmore of Barbados 21-12, 20-22 and 21-11; and Jonathan-David Smith got the better of fellow Jamaican Wilroy Myles 17-21, 28-26 and 21-18.

It will therefore be an all Jamaican encounter with McNee playing Palmer and Henry playing Smith in the semi-finals.

In the women’s equivalent, local badminton queen, Geordine Henry (Gareth’s sister), defeated her compatriot Carla Grant 18-21, 21-10 and 21-17 in her quarter-final encounter, while Ruth Williams stopped another Jamaican, Christina Leyow-Mayne, 21-8 and 21-9.

Geordine Henry has a huge task at hand when she takes on number-one seed Solangel Guzman of T&T in semi-final one and Ruth Williams playing Barbados’ Tamisha Williams in the other semi-final.

In the Open men’s doubles, Jamaica’s pair of Gareth Henry and Garron Palmer whipped number-one seed Barbados’ pair Jade Browne and Andre Padmore 21-14 and 21-12 in their quarter-final match; Jonathon-David Smith and Kemar Valentine were also effective as they defeated Guyana’s pair of Christopher Persaud and Narayan Ramdhani 24-22 and 21-9; and the pair of Wilroy Myles and Jamari Rose stopped T&T’s pair of Keston Friday and Kerwyn Pantin 21-18 and 21-14 to book their spot in the semi-final.

Henry and Palmer will take on T&T’s Alistair Espinoza and Anil Seepaul in the first semi-final and Smith and Valentine playing fellow Jamaicans Myles and Rose in the other semi-final.

Jamaica’s Open women’s doubles pair of Geordine Henry and Mikaylia Haldane crushed T&T’s pair of Jade Joseph and Avril Plaza-Marcelle 21-11 and 21-9 to advance. Also advancing was Barbados’ pair of Shari Watson and Tamisha Williams, who defeated Jamaica’s Christine Leyow-Mayne and Terry Leyow-Walker 21-18 and 23-21.

Henry and Haldane will play number-one seed pair of fellow Jamaicans Ruth Williams and Katherine Wynter in the first semi-final and T&T’s Nekeisha Blake and Solangel Guzman playing Watson and Williams in the other semi-final.

In the Open mixed doubles, number-one seed siblings Gareth and Geordine Henry easily brushed aside T&T’s pair of Anil Seepaul and Arvil Plaza-Marcelle 21-4 and 21-9 and booked their spot in the semi-final; veteran Terry Leyow-Walker and Jamari Rose defeated T&T’s Solangel Guzman and Kerwyn Pantin 21-17, 18-21 and 21-19; and Mikaylia Haldane and Garron Palmer got the better of fellow Jamaicans Christina Leyow-Mayne and Kemar Valentine 21-19, 17-21 and 21-16.

The Henry siblings will face Leyow-Walker and Rose in semi-final one, while Haldane and Palmer will play Barbados’ Shari Watson and Andre Padmore in semi-final two.