JAMAICA captured two silver medals in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles events at the third staging of the 2017 Jamaica International Badminton Tournament which ended at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) in Kingston on Sunday.

It was a spirited effort by the Jamaicans to have reached both finals, but they could not manage the overseas players who are well above the locals in world rankings.

The Jamaican pair of Mikaylia Haldane and Katherine Wynter, who were the second seeds in the women’s doubles, could not make any impression on the top pair of Rachel Honderich of Canada and Leanne Choo of Australia, who easily defeated the locals in straight sets 21-2 and 21-8.

Jamaica’s mixed doubles pair of Dennis Coke and Wynter, who were seeded two, found the going tough against the Canadian pair of Honderich and Toby Ng, losing in straight set 21-9 and 21-8.

Meanwhile, the best and most exciting matches of the finals came in the men’s and women’s singles which were decided in three sets. These two finals produced fast and excellent plays that saw the small crowd attendance applauding the four finalists.

In the men’s singles final, number four seed from Denmark, Soren Toft, ranked 324 in the world, defeating top seed and ranked 150 in the world Adam Mendrek from the Czech Republic 21-14, 14-21 and 22-20.

It was a match that produced brilliant playing tactics, powerful smashes especially from the hard-hitting Mendrek who hits the shuttle “bird” powerfully, while the left-handed Toft’s countered with brilliant smooth and good placement, by moving his opponent back and forward of the court.

Toft had a slight ankle injury in the second set trailing 13-15 and was treated by the doctor but took his time to recover well before a ding-dong tussle with Mendrex in the deciding third set.

Mendrex led 17-14 before Toft levelled at 18-18. The Czech Republic player was up 20-18 but lost the next four points as they deuced at 20-20 and Toft won 22-20 to clinch the title.

“I am really very happy to have won but it was a tough match. I damaged my ankle a little in the second set, but after continued playing the pain eased. My opponent was playing very aggressively and fast, so I had to change my strategy,” said the 24-year-old Toft.

Action in the women’s singles was also keenly contested with fantastic plays produced by both players that brought a lot of cheering from the spectators.

Top seed Rachel Honderich of Canada, however, came from a set down before stopping the hard-smashing second seed Martina Repiska from Slovakia in three sets 15-21, 21-19 and 21-15.

The men’s doubles final that always produced one of the exciting actions with powerful and attacking smashes, did not live up to expectations, as the second-seeded India pair of Venkatesh Prasad and Jagadish Yadav easily defeated the top pair of Milan Dratva and Hlinican of Slovakia in straight sets 21-14, 21-11 to win handsomely.