T&T's Under-22 footballers secured a 1-1 draw against Uruguay, their third such result from as many matches at the 16th Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, yesterday but missed out on a semi-final spot.The result followed similar 1-1 draws against Mexico and Ecuador at the Omnilife Stadium.Needing a win to advance ahead of eventual second place finisher Uruguay, the Angus Eve-coached T&T went into the match in a more attacking approach and that seemed to pay off early when W Connection 19-year-old striker Shahdon Winchester headed T&T goal into a tenth minute.
However, seven minutes later, Uruguay struck back with an equalising goal through Nicolas Abero, who beat T&T goalkeeper Andre Marchan from some distance.T&T, with Winchester, Kaydion Gabriel,Marcus Joseph and Jeromie Williams in the starting team, continued to push forward in numbers but failed to find a way past a stubborn Uruguay defence. Trevin Caesar, T&T's scorer in the 1-1 draw with Ecuador, was injured and had to be replaced by Jayson Joseph five minutes after entering.Jamal Gay also entered the match as T&T went in desperate search of the winner in the closing half hour.With the draw, T&T ended with three points, one behind Uruguay while Mexico topped the group with seven points.Argentina won the other group with seven points followed by Costa Rica (six), Brazil (two) and Cuba (one).
Callender in 100 Pan Am final
T&T sprinter Emmanuel Callender was due to contest the Men's 100m final at the Telmex Athletics Stadium, last night from lane four.Others in the final were USA's Albert Newman, David Lescay (Cuba), Kim Collins (St Kitts/Nevis), Lerone Clarke (Jamaica), Carlos Rafael (Dominican Republic), Jose Gomez (Colombia) and Nilson Andre (Brazil).On Monday night, Callender was second in the second semifinal in 10.17 seconds to trail Collins, who won in a Pan American Games record of 10 seconds flat.The old record of 10.06 was set by Cuba's Leandro Penalver in Caracas, Venezuela on August 24, 1983.Andre (10.23) and Cuban Lescay (10.31) were third and fourth, respectively, in the semifinal.In the first semifinal, Commonwealth Games champion, Clarke won in 10.17 followed by Rafael (10.30), Gomez (10.40) and Newman (10.42).Earlier on Monday, Callender won the second of five first round heats in the fastest time of all the qualifiers, 10.13 seconds while Newman was second in 10.30.
So far, T&T has won two medals, a silver by shooter, Roger Daniel in the Men's 10m Air Pistol, and bronze by cyclist Njisane Phillip in the Match Sprint event.Today, Emmanuel Mayers will compete in the first of three Men's 400m Hurdles semifinals from lane four against Lee Ellis Moore (USA), Allie Beauvais (Haiti), Isa Phillip (Jamaica), Alejandro Emerson Chala (Ecuador), Guillermo Allan Ayala (Guatemala) and Mexico's Juan Stenner from 4.35pm.The first two finishers in each of the heats and the next two fastest advance to the semifinal.Moriba Morain will also line up in the third of five heats in the Men's 200m against Courtney Williams (St Vincent and The Grenadines), Winston George (Guyana), Juan Jose Reyes (Mexico), Roudy Monrose (Haiti), Jose Acevedo (Venezuela), and Leonardo Alex Quinonez of Ecuador.
The first four finishers in each heat and the next four fastest advance to the semifinal.Today, at the Pan American Hockey Stadium, the national women's team meet Cuba from 6.30 pm in a fifth to eight semifinal clash.T&T ended in cellar-spot in Pool A, after losing to Argentina (11-0), Barbados (4-2) and Canada (2-1) while Cuba was third in Pool B with three points after beating Mexico, 3-1 and losing to both USA (9-0) and Chile (6-0).Barbados, third in Pool A meets Mexico in the other fifth to eight semifinal while in the main draw, Pool A winner Argentina meets Pool B runner-up, Chile, while USA,winner of Pool B faces Canada, second in Pool A.