Led by veteran player Kwandwane Browne, the local men’s hockey team bagged bronze to increase T&T’s medal haul to 19 yesterday at the Central America and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.
Browne sank a pair of goals in the eighth and 52nd minutes, to help T&T top Guyana, 5-0, in the bronze medal match at the Complejo Pibe Valderrama.
Tariq Marcano opened the scoring as early as the second minute with Browne increasing the lead to 2-0 some six minutes later, an advantage T&T held on to at the end of the first quarter.
However, in the next two quarters, T&T struggled to find the back of the net and the score remained 2-0, heading into the final quarter.
It was Mickell Pierre getting T&T another goal in the 51st minute and a minute later, Browne netted his second item before Shaquille Daniel put in the final item in the 56th.
Tennis player Breana Stampfli suffered a straight sets defeat to Olympic champion Puerto Rican Monica Puig, 2-0 (6-1, 6-2) in the women’s singles competition.
She will now meet the other losing semifinalist Mexican Giuliana Olmos, who fell to Mariana Duque of Colombia, 6-4, 6-2, to battle for the bronze medal.
Over at the Athletics Stadium, Sparkle McKnight will go for gold in the women’s 400 metres hurdles event after clocking 56.41 seconds to place third in the semifinal round.
Janeil Bellille faced the starter in the second semifinal heat and just missed out on a spot in the final, crossing fourth in a time of 57.25. The final is carded for tomorrow.
In the men’s version of the race, despite running a season’s best time of 49.89, Jehue Gordon placed fourth in the men’s 400m hurdles semifinal heat one and did not advance to the final.
Alena Brooks was another T&T athlete reaching the final in the women’s 800m after placing second in heat two of the semifinals. She crossed in 2:05.29 and will run in the medal race tonight.
In the men’s 800m, Nicholas Landeau did not complete the race.
National sprint champion Keston Bledman qualified for the semifinal round as one of the fastest losers after clocking 10.38 seconds in the fourth of four heats in the first round of the men’s 100m.
Running lane five, Bledman placed fourth behind Jamaican Nesta Carter, who ran a season’s best 10.18, so too Jhonny Renterria of Colombia (10.25 -sb) and Burkheart Ellis of Barbados in 10.35.
Another local sprinter Kyle Greaux was listed to compete in heat three but he did not start.
The semifinals were scheduled to run off after press time last evening with Bledman running in lane one. The medal race is carded for today.
In the women’s version of the race, Zakiya Denoon clocked 11.49 to finish runner-up to Andrea Purica of Venezuela in a personal best 11.24 in the second of three heats. Soon after Khalifa St Fort crossed in 11.54 to win the third heat ahead of Jura Levy of Jamaica in 11.62 and French Guiana’s Gemima Joseph in 11.74.
Denoon and St Fort were to return to the track later in the semifinal round with the final set for today as well.
Vball men suffer two straight defeats
T&T was unable to recover from its loss to Colombia the previous night and fell to a straight sets defeat to Puerto Rico, yesterday at the Humberto Perea Coliseum.
The Puerto Ricans emerged with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-19) victory in a match that lasted one hour and 18 minutes in front of 1,500 spectators.
On Saturday night, Colombia came from behind to win over T&T 3-2 (19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 15-8) in pool B debut at the men’s volleyball tournament at Humberto Perea Coliseum.
Host Colombia gave a spectacular presentation recovering from losing the first set. Their height in blocking and powerful kills did not surprise T&T’s fast and tactical game.
The 14-8 margin in blocking was crucial for Colombia to overcome T&T’s 51-48 attacking margin. In addition, Colombia has a slim 3-2 serving advantage; Colombia finished with fewer errors (35-41).
Leberman Agamez of Colombia was the best scorer with 22 points, on 18 kills, 3 blocks and one ace. Also contributing in the winning effort were Humberto Machacon with 12 points and Renzo Mendoza, playing only two sets, scoring 10 points. Brando Legall led T&T with 18 points, joined by Mikheil Hoyte and captain Ryan Stewart with 10 points each.
Stewart said, “It was very exciting beginning, we didn’t do anything wrong and we played together. It was a good game by Colombia and by us; we just didn’t get the result we wanted. We just have to move forward and learn from the errors, and work harder for the next game because we are pushing to finish in the top four.”
Today, T&T will be seeking to get its first win of the competition against Guatemala.
Mixed results for beach volleyball teams
Local duo Daneil Williams and Daynte Stewart yesterday secured their third straight wins in the men’s beach volleyball tournament.
Last evening, the T&T team got a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Nicaraguans Ruben Romero and Dany Lopez in their final Pool D match. Williams/Stewart beat the Nicaragua team, 21-18, 18-21, 15-10 at the Puerta de Oro Convention Centre.
This followed up a straight sets win over Barbados yesterday morning. The T&T pair competing in pool D, had a solid performance, defeating Barbadian duo Elwyn Oxley and Hugh Sealey, 21-19, 21-12.
On Saturday, Williams/Stewart defeated 21-16, 21-13 Yahn Florent/Lincoln Riviere of Dominica in their opening match-up.
Local women’s team Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman fell to straight sets, 2-0 (21-8, 21-11) defeat from Venezuela’s pair Norisbeth Agudo and Gabriela Brito in their pool F match.
Later after press time, Grant and Blackman were hoping to shake off their opening loss and bounce back against the Virgin Islands team of Amber Bennett and Mannika Charles.
Daniel best shooter for T&T in stage 1
Shooter Roger Daniel was the best performer for T&T in stage one of the qualification round in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol. He ended with a score of 271 to hold 11th spot after the opening round.
Rhodney Allen was second best with 247 to be in the 22nd spot while Clement Marshall was not at his best and sits in 24th and last place after scoring a round of 213.
T&T is ranked eighth in as many teams with a score of 731. Leading is Cuba with 856 with Venezuela second with 847 and third is Colombia with 829.
Today, the local trio will look to be on target today in stage two of the qualification round hoping to lift T&T from the last place.
Archers Johnathan Mosca and Daniel Catariz had creditable performances in the Men’s Recurve Individual Ranking round and finished 14th and 15th, respectively. Mosca ended with a score of 632 while Catariz scored 629.
The local pair will next see action tomorrow in the round of 16 elimination round from 3 pm at the Lucio Gonzalez Stadium.
In the Men’s Compound Individual ranking round, Jonathon Thomas scored 675 to be in 18th position while Hasmath Ali and Peter Kong were lower down the order in 25th and 26th with scores of 660 and 645, respectively.
Today in the round of 16 elimination round, Thomas is matched against Martinique’s Fabien Clombe, Hasmath will face off against Jose Del Cid of Guatemala, with Kong challenging Sebastian Arenas of the host country.
Lone women’s archer Priyanka Dhanie scored 615 to finish in 22nd spot in the Compound Individual ranking round. She will aim to improve when she returns to action today, matched against Puerto Rican Marla Cintron, who was ranked 11th after scoring 665.
Also, T&T got by Colombia in its Mixed compound Team quarterfinal match, winning 149-146, before falling to Guatemala, 144-121 in the semifinal round.
Water polo women’s struggle continues
T&T women’s team poor run in the water polo competition continued yesterday with its fourth straight loss. The local went under 29-5 to Puerto Rico.
Scoring for T&T were Shemiyah Ross with a double, Jordan Van Reeken, Megan Stafford and Thais Hinds.
The national water polo team will be back in the water today to face-off against Cuba in its fifth preliminary round match hoping to break its winless streak.
Swimmer Gabriel Bynoe struggled in the men’s 10km final, finishing out of the time limit. The Open Water swim was dominated by the Venezuelans with Wilder Carreno nabbing gold in 1:59.21 and Diego Vera close behind to cop silver in 1:59.24 while Mexican Alfredo Villa bagged bronze in 2:00.28.
T&T women’s footballers will chase the bronze medal when they battle Venezuela in the third-place match-up.
Boxer Nigel Paul lost his super heavyweight semifinal bout to Cuba’s Jose Larduet. The Cuban won 3-2 on points.
Another local boxer Michael Alexander re-enters the ring, after his opening win over Carlos Figueroa on Saturday, taking on Jonathan Miniel of Panama in the men’s lightweight (60kg) semifinal bout.