It was a tough start for Jamaica on day one of the Jamaica International Invitational Badminton Tournament taking place at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

Qualification hopefuls, Marc-Anthony Salmon and Kemar Valentine both lost in straight sets to Dakeil Thorpe of Barbados and Kevin Barkman of Canada, respectively.

Playing on court one, Thorpe got off to a really good start, overpowering Salmon to take a 4-0 lead and controlled the first set from there to take it comfortably at 21-12 and 21-15.

It was not as easy for Barkman on court three, however, as he was made to fight by a determined Valentine. The first set was a tussle early on with the scores being tied a 9-9 at one point. The Canadian was able to separate himself after getting into double figures before closing out the set at 21-13.

The second set was more challenging for Barkman as Valentine stayed with him up until 13 all. Both players displayed a mixture of power and finesse with beautiful drop shots and vicious cross court shots that entertained the small crowd on hand.

Barkman held set point at 20-15, but Valentine refused to give up and scored three unanswered points to pull within two at 20-18. The match came to an end when Valentine slipped while trying to reach a cross court shot from Barkman and fell to the floor, as the match ended 21-13, 21-18.

Both Thorpe and Barkman will have to play a second game to force their way into the main draw.

Thorpe was playing in his third tournament in Jamaica and was pleased with the winning start.

“It was a good win today. This is still qualifying so I still have a next game to play till the main draw, so I am happy with the start. This is my third time here and it was good to get the first win. The game plan was just to keep it simple, nothing too fancy and just play the winning shots.”

Barkman admitted to being tested by the fighting Valentine.

“I am feeling good, it was a really, really tough match. I am pretty tired but it feels good. I was a little nervous (at the end). He is a real fighter, you think oh I am almost there and you tend to relax and he fought back well so it was tough,” he admitted.

— Dwayne Richards