Captain Dwayne Hinds (74kgs) enjoyed one of the highlight moments of his career on Friday, when he secured a gold medal in combat sambo, at the Pan American Sambo Championship.
This was on the second day of competition which was staged in Cali, Colombia. He led T&T's five-athlete contingent to a successful eight medals overall in the team's international sambo debut.
Hinds secured T&T's historic feat a day after claiming silver in sport sambo event, albeit in controversial fashion with his loss in the final to Venezuelan Sandy Mjarez.
T&T's Martin Joseph (82kg) and Keron Bourne (62kg) also put on superb performances in their national debut, as the pair claimed bronze in both the combat and sport sambo disciplines, while Terron Diaz (68kg) sealed bronze (combat sambo) in his first ever appearance for any combat national team. Joash Walkins (62kg) was another standout performer with a silver (combat).
Hinds, 28, regarded as one of the fasting rising versatile mixed martial arts athletes in the region, defeated Ecuador's Raul Aucancela in the combat sambo final, only a day after losing to Mjarez in the sport sambo title match. A
fter advancing into the second round of the sport sambo competition through a bye, Hinds eased past his opposition from Colombia and the United States respectively, with the latter having to receive multiple stitches from a legal but savage headbutt inflicted by the Trinidadian.
Hinds, however, felt he should have been on the receiving end of a positive result.
He said, "the point scored by Mjares was very controversial but because it was early in the match, it was not disputed. It ended up being the difference in the match."
Incredibly, it was Hinds' first loss in all competitions in five years, and incidentally the final was officiated by a panel of Venezuelans. Hinds was hoping to exact revenge in the combat sambo final against Mjares, however, the Venezuelan lost in the semifinal to Aucancela.
Walkins has also lost 1-0 to Venezuelan Luigi Mosqueda in the combat sambo final. Walkins made it to the final after facing country-mate Bourne in the semifinal, which he won, with the latter finishing with a bronze medal.
Bourne also won bronze in the sport sambo event after losing to Mosqueda in the semifinal.
T&T's Joseph took bronze in both the combat and sport sambo events, with their eventual losses to Colombia's Mauricio James and American James Fritz, respectively. Diaz won the first medal with a bronze medal finish after losing to Michell Hurtado of Colombia.
The team along with the president of the T&T Combat Sport Association (T&TCSA) Jason Fraser, will return tomorrow.
