The Dominican Republic won the 40th Central American and Caribbean Table Tennis men’s team gold and women’s team silver medals yesterday. The event is taking place in Santiago. Roberto Brito defeated Omar Flores of Guatemala to win the gold medal. The DR was not the favorite to win the gold. The team’s standings were: Men’s: DR, Guatemala, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Jamaica, Aruba, Curaçao. Women’s: Venezuela, DR, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Curaçao. The event continues at the Palacio de los Deportes in Santiago with individual events and masters competitions. Juan Vila, president of the Dominican Federation of Table Tennis was thrilled with the gold. He said it meant a new generation of champion players was in the making. "Our goal is to recover our leadership in Central America and the Caribbean in the El Salvador Games in 2002 and we are working hard to achieve this," he said. The DR has several legends in table tennis, such as Mario Alvarez, Raymundo Fermín and Juan Vila himself.Celebrating Christmas in Santo Domingo A chef by vocation and profession, Sandra Lluberes is a local caterer and lover of gourmet dinners. Her Christmas "pastel en hojas" are a favorite order at Christmas time. On Sunday, from 9 to 10 pm, she is scheduled to be online to answer questions about what’s cooking for Christmas. To participate, go to the DR1 Chat page at http://www.dr1.com/expat/
