Teenage wheelman, Nicholas Paul pedalled to his second gold medal at the 23rd Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla, Colombia, last night.
The 19-year-old Paul, a member of the gold medal-winning T&T Match Sprint Team, doubled his gold medal haul when he got the better of hometown rider Fabian Puerta 2-1 in the best of three rides final.
Puerta won the first ride in 12.122 seconds, before the T&T cyclist battled back to win the second ride off in 10.364 seconds to set up a third and deciding ride off which he took in 10.091 to stun the home crowd and improved T&T’s gold medal haul to five and 15 overall, two silver and eight bronze. 13 in 2014
It was sweet redemption for Paul who was third in the men’s keirin on Monday, only to be relegated to the sixth spot after an infringement.
Olympian Njisane Phillip, who was also part of the golden Match Sprint team failed to add to T&T’s medal haul when he was beaten in two straight rides for bronze by another Colombia, Kevin Quintero in 10.469, and 10.434.
Yesterday in the semifinals which took place in the morning session, Paul defeated Quintero 2-0, 10.017, and 10.211 while Puerta overcame Phillip 2-1, winning in 10.284 and 10.529, after the T&T rider won the first heat, 10.146.
In the last-eight match-ups, Paul defeated Venezuela’s Cesar Marcano in two straight rides, in 10.137 and 10.048 respectively while Phillip, 27, swept aside Guatemalan, Brandon Pineda, also in two rides, in 10.491 and 10.594 respectively.
Quintero who defeated Suriname’s Jair Tjon 2-0 (10.342 and 10.256) as well and Puerta, got past Venezuelan Hersony Canelon in three rides, 2-1.
Two other T&T cyclists climbing the medal podium last night were Akil Campbell and his sister Teneil. Akil ended third overall in the men’s Omnium with 128 points from four events. Colombian Edwin Avila (157) won gold and Mexican, Ignacio Prado (147), silver while Barbadian Jamol Eastmond was fourth with 116.
During the four events, the 22-year-old Akil, who placed eighth in the men’s Madison, was fourth in the Scratch Race (34 points); third in the Tempo Race (36 pts); won the Elimination Race (40 pts) and was fourth in the Points Race (18).
His sister, 20-year-old Teneil made it three bronze medals by finishing third in the women’s Individual Pursuit.
Teneil crossed the line in three minutes, 41.025 seconds to finish ahead of Mexico’s Jessica Bonilla (3:43.135) in the bronze medal battle. Marlies Mejias defeated fellow Cuban Arlenis Sierra, with a time of 4:27.773 to 4:33.203 for gold.
Also yesterday, Costa sisters, Alexi and Jessica failed to finish the women’s Madison event.
Today, Teneil and Alexi Costa will compete in the women’s Points Race; Paul and Quincy Alexander in the men’s Time Trial final, and Akil and Kemp Orosco in the men’s Madison final.
Carter second in men’s 50m free
Dylan Carter picked up his fourth medal at the Games, silver in the men’s A 50m freestyle to add to his three gold.
Carter touched the wall in 22.39 seconds to finish behind Suriname’s Renzo Tjon-A-Joe, who had the fastest time of 22.28 in the heats. He won in 22.18 with Venezuelan Alberto Mestre third in 22.47.
In the morning 50m freestyle heats, Carter won heat five in 22.40, the second fastest qualifying time, ahead of Guatemalan Luis Martinez Mendez (22.83) and Aruba’s Mikel Schreuders (22.87) earned A-final places while Joshua Romany of T&T, was fourth in 22.91 for a B-final spot.
Romany went on to win the B Final in 22.88.
On Tuesday night, the T&T’s 4x100m freestyle quartet of Kael Yorke, Romany, Carter and Jabari Baptiste had carried T&T medal tally to 11, four gold, one silver and six bronze with a third-place finish in 3:22.83.
Toussaint secures Calypso Stickmen semis
Akim Toussaint scored a pair of goals to lead T&T men’s hockey team to a 3-0 shot-out of Jamaica in their final Pool A at the Unidad Deportivo Pibe Valderrama, yesterday.
Toussaint scored in the 25th and 55th minutes while Teague Marcano got the other in the 47th minute for T&T to end with six points from three matches, level with Cuba and Barbados.
However, the “Calypso Stickmen” who also beat Cuba, 2-1 before a shock 2-1 loss to Barbados ended with a goal-difference of plus-three for the second spot behind Cuba, which outscored Barbados, 4-2 in yesterday’s final match, with the latter only needing a draw to reach the semifinals.
In tomorrow’s semifinals, T&T will meet Pool B winner, Mexico from 5 pm while Cuba battles Pool B, runner-up, Guyana at 2.45 pm.
This afternoon the T&T “Calypso Stickwomen”, who topped their round-robin pool with a 3-0 record will be in semifinal action from 5 pm versus Cuba.
The first semifinal from 2.45 pm will feature Mexico which won Pool A, and Pool B runner-up, Barbados.
Calypso Spikers finish 5th
Channon Thompson and Krystle Esdelle spiked 17 points each as T&T women’s volleyball ended in a creditable fifth spot after a win 26-24, 25-19, 25-20 over Venezuela in their fifth place playoff yesterday.
Sinead Jack added 15 points for the ‘FIVB World Championship-bound “Calypso Spikers” who dominated the South Americans on spikes, 43-27; blocks 15-0 and service aces, 7-3 to make amends for their 33 errors committed as compared to the losers, 11.
Women Warriors through to semis
T&T senior women footballers will come up against Costa Rica from 8 pm in one of two semifinals.
On Tuesday, the Women Warriors needed Mexico to defeat Nicaragua by four clear goals to have a chance at advancing to the semifinals, and that was the scoreline the Mexicans eventually registered to give
T&T second spot by virtue of scoring more goals than the Nicaraguans after both teams ended with the same goal difference.
Shooters off target in Colombia
T&T’s Roger Daniel, Rodney Allen, Clement Marshall and Marsha Bullen-Jones had a tough shooting day yesterday.
Overall, T&T ended ninth in the 10m Air Pistol Team with 1,651 points after a seventh-place finish in the 50m Pistol Team on Sunday with 1,497 points.
Among the women, Bullen-Jones did not fear much better as she placed 15th in the Women’s 25m Pistol qualifiers with 256 points in the Qualification Precision and 14th in the Qualification Rapid with 529.
Arrindell ends on a high
Sailor, Kelly-Ann Arrindell ended her campaign in the women’s Laser Radial with a sixth-place finish in the ninth and final race for a total of 58 net points and eighth position overall.
Squash teams ousted in pool play
T&T’s national women’s squash team ended their round-robin Pool A four-team series with a 2-1 win over Guatemala but it was not enough to get to the semifinals.
After losing to Mexico (0-3) and Cayman Islands (0-3) on Tuesday, the T&T women had much better fortune yesterday.