Opportunities for medal at the CAC Games in Veracruz, Mexico, were at a premium for T&T, yesterday, but Christopher George came up big when the chance came, securing bronze in the men’s judo 100kg weight division. He, however, was one of few athletes who were in the final stages of competitions.
Others such as those from the men’s boxing team were only at the quarterfinal stage, while the women’s basketball team, although already out of medal contention, made positive movement. But, making the most progress was the men’s hockey team, which moved straight into gold medal contention with a shock win.
A second half goal from Akim Toussaint gave T&T’s men’s hockey team a massive 1-0 win over host team, Mexico, in the semifinal at the High Performance Center. Toussaint’s scored on the hour mark to lift coach Raphael Govia’s team closer to T&T’s second gold medal from all competitions. The men’s team will contest the final, which guarantees at least a silver medal, on Monday against Cuba, from 5.30pm.
Cuba trounced Barbados 6-0 in the first semifinal. T&T and Cuba already met on Tuesday with the “Calypso Stickmen” blowing a two-goal lead to then succumb to a 3-2 defeat. Two days later, however, T&T regrouped to demolish Guatemala 11-0. In the team’s first match, Tariq Marcano scored a hat-trick leading T&T to a 4-3 win over the Dominican Republic.
Women basketballers in morale boosting win
T&T’s women’s basketballers pulled off their best performance in four matches, while recording a second consecutive win, after finishing on the better end of a 88-62 result against Costa Rica. Patrice Edwards, who topscored in the team’s group-stage win over Jamaica, once again stole the spotlight with a 30-point haul, the most of any player on the court. Edwards scored eight free throws from 10 attempts and also had a positive conversion rate from field goals, scoring 11 two-point efforts from 18 attempts.
While out of contention for a medal, the women’s team, led by coach Christopher Jackson Charles, improved significantly from its 50-point loss to Cuba in the first match. Giving valuable support yesterday, were Jowan Ortega and Afeisha Noel. Ortega was the second highest scorer with 16 points, while Noel netted 13 points and collected 11 rebounds. T&T outscored Costa Rica in each of the four quarters with figures of 26-19, 48-35, 72-50 and 88-62. The women basketballers will play for fifth place today against El Salvador. El Salvador edged Jamaica 49-47 in the earlier contest.
Marsden places 11th in swimming open 10k
Christian Marsden was T&T’s best performer in the Men’s 10km swimming marathon, finishing 11th out of 17 competitors, clocking two hours, six minutes and forty seconds. Marsden, T&T’s record braking open water swimmer, trailed 10 minutes, fifty-seven seconds behind the race winner Diego Vera of Venezuela. Also competing for T&T was Sachin Kumar, who clocked 2:25:29.6 to finish 16th. Mexico’s Daniel Delgadillo (1:55:43.6) and Arturo Perez (1:55:43.7) finished second and third, respectively. On Friday, Shania David and Syriah David competed in the women’s equivalent. Shania closed in 16th, while Syria did not finish the race.
Prince knocks out St Lucian for quarterfinal berth
Moving into the quarterfinals of the men’s 75kg middleweight round of 16 was Aaron Prince, who made light work of his Caribbean counterpart Miguel Auguste, winning the bout by total knockout (TKO). Prince recorded his win in three minutes and against the St Lucian rival will now move into today’s semifinal where he will sport the colour red against Mexico’s Miseal Uziel Rodriguez. Late last evening, Seanasi Charles went up against Nicaragua’s Hasan Rigby in the round-of-16 of the men’s 64kg light weight. Also in battle today will be Andrew Fermin, challenging the men’s 81kg light heavyweight against Julio Cesar La Cruz of Cuba. On Monday, T&T’s Anthony Joseph will open against Sergio Chirino in the men’s 56kg bantamweight quarterfinal. Medal bouts will take place a day later and conclude on Saturday.
Polo men struggle against Puerto Rico
After a valiant effort in the first three quarters, T&T’s men’s water polo team was soundly beaten, 16-9, by Puerto Rico in a preliminary match. T&T trailed 4-3 after the first quarter, and was again outscored 4-2 and 3-2 in the two successive periods, before being out-muscled 5-2 in the last period. Four players, Matthew George, John Littlepage, Christopher Forte and Daniel Abraham scored a pair of goals each, while Daniel Alvarez was on target with one.
