Cyclist Teneil Campbell capped of her debut at the 23rd Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games with a gold medal ride in the women’s Road Race (99 km) in Barraquilla, Colombia, yesterday.
The 20-year-old Campbell who won three bronze medals in the women’s Individual Pursuit, Omnium and Scratch Race prior to the start of her final event, won a sprint to the finish line to claim the Road Race gold medal in two hours, 31.47 minutes ahead of Cuban, Yudelmis Dominguez and Mexico’s Lizbeth Salazar, who were all awarded the same time as well. Alexi Costa, T&T’s other entrant was 19th.
Writing on her Facebook page following her gold ride Campbell said, “Today’s victory was an emotional one. I’m really thankful to be surrounded by supportive, positive and hardworking individuals. Honestly I’m not quite sure how I would of gotten through the day without them #ThankYou.”
T&T’s overall medal tally is 18 (seven gold, two silver and nine bronze).
Stampfli in tennis semis
T&T’s Breana Stampfli will lock horns with the Olympic champion, Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in the semifinals of the women’s Lawn Tennis Singles competition today from 10 am at Parque Distrital de Racquetas.
When the competition served off on Friday, 22-year-old Stampfli overcame Bahamian, Danielle Thompson, 7-6(4), 6-3 before she battled past Kelly Williford of Dominican Republic 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in the last-16 (second round) and then Colombian, Maria Herazo, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
In the other semifinal, Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos faces Colombia Mariana Duque.
Women Warriors to battle for bronze
T&T’s senior women footballers missed out on a chance of a gold medal but will have an opportunity of securing the bronze tomorrow when they face Venezuela following their 2-0 defeat to Costa Rica in the semifinals on Friday night.
T&T’s women gave a creditable performance and may have found themselves to be somewhat unfortunate in the encounter after falling behind to a dubious penalty call in the 32nd minute. Mexican referee Maria Gonzales ruled that Jenelle Cunningham tripped Gloriana Villalobos on her way to goal.
Carol Sanchez put away the resulting penalty and Maria Porras punished T&T for a defensive mistake in added on time.
T&T had its chances on goal with Tasha St Louis missing a glorious opportunity to level the scores in the 78th minute when she ran on a to flick on a header by Karyn Forbes, got past Sanches but sent her effort wide of the target.
Mexico overcame Venezuela 3-1 in the other semifinal match and will meet Costa Rica in the final with T&T taking on its neighbours from 5 pm TT time.
“Not the result we were hoping for but far from a disappointing performance,” head coach Shabazz said.
“I think our players demonstrated a desire and displayed a courage that is encouraging as we look ahead to the remainder of the CONCACAF qualifier and potential matches against the likes of Costa Rica and Mexico. Of course, it was not a good feeling to come away with the loss but we took away some positives. We’ll regroup and give it our everything in an attempt to secure the bronze medal against Venezuela. Of more importance for us at this stage is having the opportunity to have two top matches which will serve us well in preparation for the qualifiers next month,” Shabazz added.
Water Polo men end winless run
T&T men’s water polo team ended their winless at the Complejo Acautico yesterday beating Costa Rica 18-6 in their final round-robin match.
Russell Ferreira and Sergio Des Vignes led the way with four goals each for T&T while Tyrece Joseph added three.
The trio of Christopher George, Daniel Alvarez and Kris Thomas scored two each while Kryztien Sharpe netted once for T&T, who overcame a 1-3 first quarter deficit to win the next three quarters, 6-1, 6-1 and 5-1.
On Friday night, the national men’s team suffered their second loss from as many matches, 8-16 versus Venezuela to add to a 2-29 loss to Cuba.
Leon Daniel led the fight against Venezuela with three goals for T&T and Adrian Hinds scored twice, and George, Alvarez and Thomas were also among the goals for T&T who trailed 1-2, 2-10 and 7-14 at the end of the first three periods. Today, the quarterfinals will take place.
The women’s team dropped to a 0-3 round-robin record after a 5-20 defeat at the hands of Colombia.
For T&T, which trailed 0-6, 4-9 and 4-13 at the end of the first three quarters, Jordan Van Reeken netted a pair of goals while Shemiyah Ross, Ariel Stewart and Thais Hinds added one each.
T&T was also defeated by Mexico (5-22) and Venezuela (3-22) and will face Puerto Rico today from 4.40 pm, followed by Cuba tomorrow to end round-robin play.
Shaniah De Freitas netted at a double to lead T&T senior women’s hockey team to a 2-0 defeat of Barbados in their bronze medal match at the Complejo Pibe Valderrama, Barranquilla, Colombia, yesterday.
Gold medal winners in 2002 and 2010 it was the first ever bronze medal in women’s hockey for T&T at the CAC Games after ending fourth, last time out in Mexico.
De Freitas, who netted both goals when T&T defeated the Barbadians in a round-robin fixture earlier in the week, 2-1, opened the scoring in the 13th minute before she sealed the issue with a late second item in the 59th minute.
Today, this country’s men’s hockey team, second the last two tournaments will face Guyana for bronze at the same venue from 3.15 pm while Cuba and Mexico do battle for gold at 5.30pm.
T&T men, winners in 2003 and second four years later, had a previous bronze medal finish in 1998, beating Barbados in the playoff.
Bullen-Jones, Daniel 8th in 10m Air Pistol Team
Marsha Bullen-Jones and former CAC Games gold medallist Roger Daniel ended in the eighth spot in the 10m Air Pistol Team competition with a combined score of 724 points.
This after Bullen-Jones had rounds of 89, 89, 88 and 86 for 352 points, and Daniel, 92, 91, 92, and 97 for 372 points.
Today, Daniel will be joined by Clement Marshall and Rhodney All for the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol qualification round.
David 12th in Open Water swim
T&T’s Shania David was 12th best in the women’s Open Water (10km) swim in two hours, 33:06.90 minutes while countrywoman Chisara Santana did not complete the course/ |
Today, Gabriel Bynoe will have his go at a top-three finish in the men’s Open Water event.
Prince no match for Cedeno
Local boxer Aaron Prince missed out on a chance at a medal when he was beaten 5-0 on points by Dominican Republic’s Euri Cedeno in their middleweight (75kg) quarterfinal.
Last night, it was the turn of Michael Alexander in the men’s lightweight (60kg) versus Puerto Rico’s Carlos Alberto Figueroa in their quarterfinal while today, Olympian Nicholas Paul will look to secure a spot in the super heavyweight gold medal bout when he faces Cuban Jose Angel Lorduet in a semifinal contest.
Vball men face Puerto Rico
T&T senior men’s volleyball team, the three-time reigning Caribbean champions will play their second match of Pool B versus Puerto Rico from 4 pm at the Humbero Perea Coliseo today.
Last night, T&T served off its campaign versus Colombia in the late match while Puerto Rico swept past Guatemala 25-14, 25-16, 25-17 to open the competition.
Defending champions, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico are in Pool A.
The winners of the pools will earn direct tickets to the semifinal phase while the teams placed in second and third will compete in the quarterfinals.
The national beach volleyball men and women teams of Daneil Williams and Danyte Stewart and Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman will also be in action again today at the Puerta de Oro, Caribbean Events Centre.
Yesterday, Stewart and Williams faced Dominicans, Yahn Florent and Lincoln Riviere, and will tackle Barbadians, Elwin Oxley and Hugh Sealy from 11.40am, and Nicaraguans, Ruben Mora, and Dany Lopez from 7 pm.
The pair of Grant and Blackman faced Panama’s Dionelys Delgado and Yamileth Montenegro in their opener last night and won 21-14 and 21-14, and will meet Venezuelans, Norisbeth Agudo and Gabriela Brito from 11.40am, and Amber Bennett, and Mannika Charles of US Virgin Islands from 9 pm to end round-robin pool play.
Also in action today for T&T will be boxer Michael Alexander against Dominican Republic’s Carlos Figueroa in a lightweight (60kg) quarterfinal while the trio of Chisara Santana, Gabriel Bynoe and Shaniah David compete in the Open Water.
Archers, Track & Field athletes join the mix today
T&T archers and track and field athletes will join the hunt for medals at the CAC Games today.
The archers set to commence action are Daniel Catariz, Hasmath Ali, Johnathan Mosca, Jonathan Thomas, Peter Kong and Priyanka Dhanie.
And in athletics, Jehue Gordon, Khalifa St Fort, Semoy Hackett, Keston Bledman are all set to face the starter at the Pista Athletica