Olympic and two-time FINA World Championship bronze medal winner, T&T's George Bovell III was fancied to pick up this country's first medal, an early birthday present, at the 28th Pan American Games when he contested the final of his pet event, the men's 50 metres freestyle last night.
This after he qualified with the sixth best time from the three heats at the CIBC Aquatic Centre and Field House, Morningside Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Yesterday, competing in the first of three heats, Bovell who turns 32 today, touched the wall in 22.34 seconds, ahead of countryman Dylan Carter (22.48) while USA's Josh Schneider won in 21.97.
The others in the heat were Cayman Islands' Brett Fraser (22.71), Honduran Allan Gutierrez (23.62), Nicaraguan Miguel Men (23.71) and Grenada' Corey Ollivierre.
In heat two, Olympic multi-gold medal winner, Cullen Jones raced home in 22.12 ahead of Argentina's Federico Grabich (22.25) and Puerto Rican, Erik Risolvato (22.48) while in the third and final heat, Suriname's Renzo Tjon-A-Joe won in 22.31 followed by Brazil's Bruno Fratus (22.33) and Canadian Olesandr Loginov (22.37).
At the conclusion of the heats, Carter, who was fifth in the men's 100m freestyle final found himself in a tie with Puerto Rican Erik Risolvato (22.48) for the joint eight fastest time, which meant a swim-off was needed and in the two-swimmer race for a spot in the A-final.
In the end, the Puerto Rican won in 22.33 ahead of the 19-year-old Carter of the University of Southern California, who clocked 22.39.
In the A-final which was contest after press time, Bovell who has won two gold and two silver at previous Pan American Games lined up from lane seven against American duo, Schneider and Jones, Loginov, Fratus, Grabich, Tjon-A-Joe and Risolvato
And in the B-final, Carter will enter as the top seed and swim from lane four while Charles Hockin (Paraguay), Cristian Quintero (Venezuela), Fraser (Cayman Islands), Karl Krug (Canada), Nicholas Santos (Brazil), Jordan Augier (St Lucia) and Gutierrez (Honduras).
Phillip eyes latch sprint gold
Olympian Njisane Phillip kept on course for the gold medal in the men's cycling match sprint when he raced his way into the semifinals at the Cisco Milton Pan American Games Velodrome, yesterday.
After being part of the T&T trio which just missed out on qualification to the medal ride when they ended in fifth spot in the men's Team Sprint event on Thursday, along with Justin Roberts and Jude Codrington, Phillip was intent on making amends in his pet event.
And when the event pedalled off in the morning session, the 24-year-old Phillip, who got bronze in the flying sprint four years ago in Guadalajara, Mexico and won the sprint final at the Pan Am Championship a year later was the fourth best from the field of 14 with a time of 10.121 in the qualification round.
The top qualifier was Canada's Hugo Barrette, who was timed at 9.978, just shy of Phillip's Games record of 9.977 while Colombian Fabian Puerta (10.015) and Venezuela's Hersony Canelon (10.041) were second and third, respectively.
Others to advance among the top 12 were Canada's Joseph Veloce (10.158), USA's Matt Baranoski (10.161), Suriname's Jair Tjon En Fa (10.193), Colombian Santiago Ramirez (10.209), USA's David Espinoza (10.318), Brazil's Freitas Fonseca (10.346), Argentina's Leandro Bottasso (10.373) and Brazilian Flavio Cipriano (10.398).
Roberts just missed a place in the second round after he was the 13th fastest with a time of 10.463.
Next up for Phillip was the quarterfinal best-of-three rides in which he defeated Veloce in two straight, with times of 10.606 and 10.523 seconds.
Canelon got the better of Baranoski 10.457 and 10.429 while Cipriano outclassed Fonseca 11.151 and 11.798 to also secure a spot in the semifinals while Barrette (10.402) and Puerta (10.513) needed a third ride after splitting their first two.
Today the semifinals will take place from 12.21 pm.
Fellow T&T cyclist, Varun Maharaj hopes of a medal in the Men's Omnium faded when he placed eighth in the 1000m Time Trial in one minute, 03.824 seconds and followed it up with a sixth placed (13.884) in the Flying Lap (250metres) to improve to 138 points and still ninth overall ahead of last night's Omnium Points Race, the final event.
On Thursday night, in the 8,500m elimination event, 23-year-old Maharaj raced to a fifth place finish.
This after he was ninth in the Scratch finals and eighth in the individual pursuit (4,000m).
Daniel 20th in 50m pistol event
A bronze medal winner in 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico, T&T's Roger Daniel had a disappointing outing in the Men's 50m Pistol and ended in 20th spot with a score of 521-03X after rounds of 91, 84, 86, 92, 85 and 83. Only the top eight at the end of the qualification round made the final.
And in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone, Marlon Moses placed 18th after scores of 99.4, 102.8, 103.9, 100.7, 99.5 and 103.2 for a tally of 609.5, also missing a top eight spot to reach the final.
Williams, Whitfield ousted from beach vball medal draw
At the Chevrolet Beach Volleyball Centre, T&T men's beach volleyball pair Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield had their medal quest halted by Mexicans Juan Virgen and Rodolfo Ontiveros 16-21, 9-21 and will face El Salvador's Ruben Moya and Dany Lopez in today's ninth to 12th semifinal.
T&T women's pair Ayanna Dyette and Malika Davidson got their first win of the Pan Am Games after ending round-robin Pool D with a 0-3 record when they defeated Cayman Islands teenagers Chante Smith-Johnson and Illeann Powery 21-18, 21-18 in 40 minutes in their 13th to 16 playoff semifinal and will now meet Guatemala's Maria Jose Orellana and Blanca Recinos for 13th tomorrow.
Arrindell, Lewis in
laser medal race today
Today at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, T&T's Kelly Arrindell and Olympian Andrew Lewis will be going after precious metal when they compete in the medal race of their respective ends after both ending their 12-races qualifying series in seventh spot.
This after the 18-year-old Arrindell who began the day in seventh with two races left, had an impressive third placed finish, her second of the second to go with an opening second placed before she closed off with a sixth placed tally for 70 net points, eight ahead of Canada's Brenda Bowskill.
The 25-year-old Lewis, meanwhile had a poor start to the day and placed tenth in the penultimate of 12 Men's Laser event which kept him seventh overall with 84 points.
However, in the 12th and final race, Lewis had his best performance with a third place finish to end with 74 net points and seventh spot, 20 clear of the final qualifier for the final in Peru's Stefano Peschiera.
Lewis's also qualified for the Rio de Janiero Brazil 2016 Olympics, his second on the trot after making his debut in London, in 2012.
T&T golfers struggle continues
At the Angus Glen Golf Club, T&T men and women golfers struggles continued. In the men's competition, Talin Rajendranath followed up his first day score of two over 74 with a six over par 73 for a two day total of eight over 154 while Sachin Kumar, added to his six over 78 were with a four over 76 and two day score of six over 154.
Among the women, Monifa Sealy showed some improvement with a five over 75 to add to her opening round of eighth over 80 for a two-day total of 14 over 158 and 16th, while Christina Ferreira was 11 positions back after a second day 13 over, 85 carried her haul to +25 169 following a score of 12 over 80 after her first 18 holes.
Included in Sealy's second round score was an eagle on the par two fifth hole while she birdied the 15th and 17th.
Today, the national men's hockey team tackle USA from 11 am while the women footballers face Mexico tonight needing a win to reach the semifinals.