GAMES

Trinidad and Tobago's Under-23 footballers kept alive their hopes of progressing to the Pan American Games semi-finals when they held Ecuador to a 1-1 draw yesterday at the Omnilife Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico.

But the T&T hockey women lost their final match of the group phase against Canada 2-1 despite taking the early lead at the Pan Am Hockey Stadium.

It took the "Soca Stickwomen" just seven minutes to get on the scoresheet, Arielle Ramchand- Du Quesnay doing the job from the field, an advantage they took to the break.

But T&T had just three shots at goal to the Canadians' 24 attempts and that pressure told in the end, as Brienne Stairs (61st minute) and Katherine Gillis (68th) scored late field goals to hand the North Americans victory.

For the young "Soca Warriors", second half-substitute Trevin Caesar spanked a volley beyond Ecuador goalkeeper Sebastian Jaramillo off a pass by Jamal Gay in the 69th minute, just one minute after being introduced by coach Angus Eve.

Before that goal, Trinidad and Tobago were 1-0 down to the South Americans, who took the lead in the 17th minute through Michael Jackson Quinonez.

The result means that Ecuador are out of the tournament and T&T now need victory against Uruguay tomorrow in order to advance to the final four.

Mexico lead T&T's group with four points from two matches after a 1-1 draw with T&T and a 2-1 win over Ecuador. Uruguay beat Ecuador 1-0 and were scheduled to face Mexico late yesterday.

Caesar was happy with the team's performance after getting a point against Ecuador.

"Today we showed again that we could compete and we have a fighting spirit in the team. The coach gave us instructions and we went out there and tried to deliver," the young forward told T&T Football Federation media officer Shaun Fuentes.

"Scoring here in Mexico to help us get a point is a marvellous feeling for me," Caesar added, "but it's a reward for the whole team effort."

As he waited on the ball from Gay, Caesar said he just tried to keep calm and place the ball well. That shot keeps T&T's fate in their own hands and the striker is looking forward to the next match.

"We have everything to play for in the next game," he added, "and we can do it."

Today, Trinidad and Tobago's hockey men meet Chile with a spot in the final four on the line. T&T previously lost 7-2 to Canada, but thumped Barbados 11-1.

T&T football squad vs Ecuador: Andre Marchan, Kareem Moses (Jeromie Williams), Aquil Selby, Joevin Jones, Leslie Russell, Mekeil Williams, Sheldon Bateau, Jayson Joseph, Kevin Molino, Micah Lewis (Trevin Caesar, 68th), Jamal Gay (Marcus Joseph, 79th).

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

October 21 - Ian Troop, the chief executive of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games Organising Committee, hopes that the successful staging of the event could lead to a winning Olympic and Paralympic bid from the Canadian city.

Toronto has twice bid to host the Summer Olympics Games - the first coming in 1996 when they finished third behind the eventual winners, Atlanta, and the second in 2008 when they were runners-up behind the victors Beijing.

But Troop, who is currently here for the 2011 edition of the Pan American Games, feels Toronto can impress the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they host the next addition of the competition in 2015 and subsequently launch a third, successful bid for the Games.

"We have had two very well-prepared Olympic bids in recent years and we certainly put up a real challenge in both of them," Troop told insidethegames.

"As we look at it, our focus is obviously on staging a terrific Pan American Games but we really hope our contribution will be able to demonstrate Toronto's capability to host major sporting events such as the Olympics which perhaps people don't realise.

"We want the people of Toronto to say, 'Wow, wasn't that a tremendous event, now let's go and get an Olympic Games.'

"We obviously have a major multi-sport event to put on and there is a lot of work to do so we are going to be focused specifically on that challenge and on hosting a fantastic Pan American Games.

"But if we can do that in front of the whole world and the IOC, we will be setting a fantastic platform and a fantastic base for any future Toronto Olympic bid."

Troop was appointed Toronto 2015 chief executive back in February 2010 and given a $350,000 (£221,800/€254,000) annual salary to oversee the $1.4 billion (£888 million/€1.1 billion) project after stepping down as an adviser with OMERS Private Equity.

He has over 28 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry, including with Procter & Gamble and ConAgra Foods International, and said the Canadian city is very much on track to host a successful event in four years when Toronto will see around 8,000 athletes from 41 nations compete across 37 sports.

"We are completely on schedule; we are on budget and we are therefore tracking right where we need to be," Troop said.

"We are also getting great pick-up from the sponsors and will be making some exciting announcements on that front in the near future.

"So I think we're in a really good position at this point to have our venues ready in 2014 for the test events for what will be a phenomenal competition.

"I mean, this is the second biggest multi-sport event in the world and it will be the biggest ever Games in Canada, including the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, which shows you the sheer scale.

"There will also be a huge economic impact for Toronto.

"There is a $700 million [£444 million/€508 million] spend on construction as well as further spend on the Athletes' Village, a separate project over and above that $700 million, which has created 15,000 jobs.

"Then you have the fact that there will be new, world class sporting facilities in Toronto that will be a major benefit not only to the city and the people in it but also for a potential Olympic bid.

"So there will be strong legacies on multiple levels and that is a big part of the return on the investment for these Games."

By Tom Degun

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

The favorite debut with a favorable score of 11-0

City: Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
Date: 2011-10-19

Finally, Hockey was started at the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011, Argentina defeated Trinidad and Tobago 11-0.

First Period
Trinidad and Tobago did not show its real game level, and was easily overcame by Argentina. The first goal was scored in the minute 2 of the encounter by Soledad Garcia.
Carla Rebecchi stressed out Trinidad and Tobago's defense, and scored the second with a ball which seemed controled by Trinidad and Tobago, which was not recovered and three minutes later Claudia Rebechi just had to turned around to pass the ball and Argentina's number ten made the first goal.
Claudia Rebechi had to turn around and shot against Petal Derry to score the second for "Las Leonas" for the joy of their fans, who traveled all the way from Buenos Aires to support their favorites.
The third goal was scored by Rosario Luchetti, who took advantaged of two mistakes of the fullbacks Blair Wayne and Avion Ashton. In the minute 21, with a penalty corner Noel Barrionuevo scored the fourth.
Soledad Garcia left laid Petal Derry, who tried to stopped the shot, which finished being the fifth, in the minute 22. Trinidad could not make a come back and Delfina Merino scored the sixth for Argentina.

Second Period
Argentina scored the seveth goal, also in the minute two, with a penalty corner taken by Noel Barrionuevo. Two minutes later, a penalty corner was penalized and again was scored by Noel Barrionuevo, doing the eighth of the game.
Trinidad and Tobago got close and actually improved, but it was not enough, at the minute 23 Noel Barrionuevo, made the fourth goal for her and the ninth for Argentina, which made her the main player of the encounter. Petal Derry, the goalkeeper, nor the fullback Blair Wynne could dodge it.
Despite the lose, Petal Derry was a key player for Trinidad and Tobago not to receive more goals.
Carla Rebechhi scored the tenth goals, and the eleventh was done by Delfina Merino, which finished with the victory of Argentina.

Source: www.witensports.com

Cyclist Njisane Phillip earned T&T’s second medal at the 16th Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, yesterday, a bronze in the Match Sprint event. At the Pan American Velodrome, Phillip put up a great challenge against the eventual gold medallist Venezuelan Hersony Gadiel Camelon in the semifinal round but lost and had to battle Fabian Hernando of Colombia for the bronze. His time was 10.244 seconds while Camelon completed the race in 10.210 in that round. In his final ride of the day, he crossed in 10.507 to beat another Venezuelan Angel Pulgar (10.935), to bag the bronze for T&T.

Shooter Roger Daniel got T&T’s first medal on Sunday when he secured the silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol. Phillip followed up his record breaking ride of 9.977 in the Match Sprint qualifying round with victories over Cuban Alejandro Mainat, USA’s Michael Benjamin Blatchford in the round-of-16 and quarterfinals. The top T&T cyclist outclassed Mainat in their one-off round of 16 heat before he crushed Blatchford in two straight rides in their best-of-three event in 10.620 and 10.252. In tennis, Dexter St Louis battled past Ecuador’s Geovanny Coello 11-7, 12-10, 11-6, 8-11, 16-18, 12-14, 11-9 to secure second spot in the four-player Group G round-robin series to set up a round-of-32 encounter with USA’s Mark Hazinski

On Tuesday night, St Louis was beaten by Paraguay’s Marcelo Aguirre 11-13, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11 as the South American top the group with three wins. In the women’s tournament, T&T Rheann Chung went under to Venezuelan, Ruaida Ezzeddine 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11 in a virtual battle for second spot Group C. With the loss, Chung ended with four points, one behind  Ezzeddine while Ariel Hsing topped the group with six points. At the Vallarta Yacht Club, Andrew Lewis placed 13th and tenth respectively in races five and six in the laser event, to hold the tenth spot. He will get a day off today but will be back in action tomorrow to compete in two more races.

In hockey, Argentina, led by four goals from Maria Noel Barrionuevo, crushed T&T women 11-0.
Augustina Garcia Carla Rebecchi and Delfina Merino added two goals each and Rosario Luchetto, the other for Argentina. Canada blasted Barbados 10-0 in the other Group A match while in Group A, USA crushed host Mexico 5-0 and Chile panked Cuba. In men’s Trap Qualification, Robert John Auerbach was 12th with a mark of 116 with two other competitors, eight adrift of Guatemala’s Jean Pierre Brol and three shy of the last qualifier for the six-man final in Sergio Pinero of Dominican Republic.

On Tuesday afternoon, the beach volleyball pair of Elki Phillip and Ayana Dyette put up a brave showing in a 14-21, 23-21, 15-6 loss to Ecuador’s Vilela and Chila. Today, the T&T men’s hockey team starts its campaign against Canada at the Pan American Hockey Stadium from 10 am TT time while the senior Soca Princesses come up against Mexico in their second match from 9 pm. T&T was beaten by Colombia 1-0 on Tuesday’s opening day.

-Nigel Simon / Rachael King

Source: www.guardian.co.tt

October 20 - The Telmex Athletics Stadium, which is set to host the Pan American Games track and field event here, has been officially opened by Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO) President Mario Vázquez Raña at a special ceremony just three days before the athletics competition begins.

The Games got underway last Friday (October 14), with the athletics event - the blue-ribbon event of the competition - set to begin on Sunday (October 23).

However, the athletics competition for the Games has been in severe doubt over the recent months because the 15,000 capacity Telmex Athletics Stadium faced countless delays in being built with construction only beginning late in 2010.

Heavy rain storms were one of the biggest contributing factors in causing delays to the $28 million (£17 million/€19 million) project but after a frantic race against time, the impressive Stadium has been completed and opened just in the nick of time meaning all venues for the Pan American Games are now officially complete.

The special opening event saw Raña, who is also Mexico's International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board member, cut a ribbon to symbolically open the venue, while there were a number of other dignitaries in attendance including Guadalajara 2011 Organising Committee general director Carlos Andrade Garin.

"It has been a long a difficult road to get here and there were times when we thought we would not have this stadium ready in time so we are delighted to be opening it today ahead of the athletics competition," Garin told insidethegames.

"It looks absolutely fantastic and I am very happy with all the team who worked so hard to deliver this venue despite the real adversity we faced, particularly the bad weather which we could do absolutely nothing about.

"Everything is now in place for what I'm sure will be a fantastic athletics competition event in a beautiful stadium that Guadalajara and all of Mexico can be proud of."

It was only last week that the athletics track received the seal of approval from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) when Mexico's Cesar Moreno Bravo, a senior IAAInternational Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) technical delegate, announced that his organisation had given the Guadalajara 2011 Organising Committee the certificate of approval for the venue making it eligible to host elite competition.

Some of the sport's top athletics stars, such as Jamaica's Usain Bolt and America's Tyson Gay, will not be representing their teams in at the venue here largely due to the fact that the Games aretaking place so late in the year.

After the Pan American Games, the stadium will become a multipurpose venue hosting sports including athletics and baseball, as well as music concerts.

By Tom Degun

Source: www.insidethegames.biz