CLAY­TON CLARKE

Sport Cor­re­spon­dent

Mem­bers of T&T's 74-mem­ber con­tin­gent be­gan their de­par­ture to the Ju­nior Pan Amer­i­can Games set for Asun­cion, Paraguay, from Au­gust 9-23.

The eight-mem­ber cy­cling con­tin­gent, as well as four of the six lo­cal swim­mers and one of the three Bad­minton play­ers, left Pi­ar­co ear­ly on Thurs­day morn­ing for Pana­ma en route to Paraguay ahead of the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny card­ed for to­mor­row.

World Ju­nior Cy­cling Cham­pi­onships dou­ble sil­ver medal­list Makaira Wal­lace and re­cent­ly Ju­nior Pan Am Ju­nior Cy­cling Track gold medal­list Je­lani Nedd are among the cy­cling octet. Pan Am Ju­nior bronze medal­list Kyra Williams is al­so in the squad.

Wal­lace will be go­ing for gold in the Women's Sprint and Keirin event af­ter se­cur­ing sil­ver in the Women's Keirin and Time Tri­als at the 2024 World Ju­niors in Lu­oy­ing, Chi­na.

Wal­lace will team up with Williams and Phoebe Sandy in the Women's Team Sprint. Nedd will go for glo­ry in the Men's Sprint, Keirin and Team Sprint along with Ryan D'Abreau.

Swim­mers Zarek Wil­son, Zachary An­tho­ny, Ty­la Ho A Shu, and Amari Ash will join Zuri Fer­gu­son and Nikoli Black­man in Paraguay. Fer­gu­son and Black­man re­cent­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in the World Long Course Swim­ming Cham­pi­onships in Sin­ga­pore.

Black­man, the 2023 World Ju­nior men's 50 me­tres freestyle cham­pi­on, is seek­ing more ti­tles in the men's 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle races as well as the men's 4x100m and mixed 4x100m med­ley re­lays. Fer­gu­son has been reg­is­tered for the Women's 100m and 200m back­stroke swims. The 2024 T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee "Fe­male Ju­nior Sports Per­son­al­i­ty" is al­so among the starters in the 200m in­di­vid­ual med­ley.

Mar­i­ana Urquhart and coach Anil Seep­aul left for Asun­cion and ahead of Urquhart's fel­low Women's sin­gles en­trant T'Shelle Barnes and Men's Sin­gles se­lectee Reese Mar­cano. Urquhart and Mar­cano will fly the na­tion­al flag in the Mixed Dou­bles.

Lone Archery rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cam'ron Din­noo was the first to ar­rive in Paraguay as he is in the South Amer­i­can coun­try for the Games Pre-camp and will re­main there un­til the start of the Games. Din­noo will com­pete in the Boys In­di­vid­ual Re­curve dis­ci­pline.

T&T's 74 en­trants will com­pete in 13 sport­ing dis­ci­plines – archery, bad­minton, 3x3 bas­ket­ball, cy­cling, golf, hock­ey, rug­by, sail­ing, swim­ming, ta­ble ten­nis, ten­nis, track and field and triathlon.

T&T won two medals at the in­au­gur­al Ju­nior Pan Am Games in Cali, Colom­bia, in 2021. Kelsey Daniel cap­tured sil­ver in the men's long jump and Tyriq Hors­ford bronze in the men's javelin.

Some 4,000 ath­letes from 41 coun­tries are card­ed to com­pete in 28 sport­ing events in Asun­cion.

The sched­ule for the lo­cal ath­letes is as fol­low:

Swim­ming (Aug 10-14), Archery (Aug 10-12), Bad­minton (Aug 10-13), Road Cy­cling (Aug 10, 17), Track Cy­cling (Aug 12-15), 3X3 Bas­ket­ball (15-17), Golf (Aug 19-23), Hock­ey (Aug 10-19), Rug­by (Aug 16-17), Ta­ble Ten­nis (16-21), Ten­nis (Aug 11-16), Track and Field (Aug 18-22) and Triathlon (Aug 20, 22).

T&T's Ju­nior Pan Am Games team

Archery

Men: Cam'ron Din­noo (In­di­vid­ual Re­curve)

Bad­minton

Women: Sin­gles - Amaria Urquhart, T'Shelle Barnes

Men

Sin­gles - Reese Mar­cano

Mixed Dou­bles -Urquhart, Mar­cano

3x3 Bas­ket­ball

Men: Le­shaun Al­fred, Ja­son Fri­day, Tyrese Field, Josi­ah Mar­ryshow

Cy­cling

Women

Madi­son - Alex­ia Wil­son, Phoebe Sandy

Sprint - Makaira Wal­lace, Sandy

Keirin - Wal­lace, Sandy

Team Sprint-Wal­lace, Sandy, Kyra Williams

Men

Sprint - Je­lani Nedd, Danell James

Keirin - Nedd, James

Road Race - Ja­di­an Neaves, Ryan D'Abreau

Team Sprint - Nedd, James, D'Abreau

Golf

Men: Jer­seem Boodram

Hock­ey

Men: Leu­mas Nep­tune, Adam Wy­att, Aidan Elias, Akhen­aton Richard­son, Alexan­der Rowe, Alexan­der Nieves, Cam­ron Adam­son, Cris­tiano Rouse, Jabari Alexan­der, Justin Day, Levi An­der­sosn, LIam MacLeod, Nicholas Siu Butt, Nichoals White­man, Rene Mo­hammed, Wayne Ed­wards,

Rug­by

Men: Aaron Stan­ley, Abra­ham, Ever­s­ley, Adri­an Bap­tiste, Ed­mund George, Eli­jah Williams, Ja­heim Wal­ton, Jasahi Daniel, Je­re­mi­ah Moore, Jerell Vin­cent, Ju­dah Fran­cis, Matthew Ed­wards, Micha Stafford

Sail­ing

Women: IL­CA 6 dinghy - Ky­la Marie Mor­ris

Men: IL­CA 7 dinghy - Ste­fan Stu­ven

Swim­ming

Women

50m freestyle-Amari Ash

100m freestyle-Ash

100m back­stroke-Zuri Fer­gu­son

200m back­stroke-Fer­gu­son

200m in­di­vid­ual med­ley-Fer­gu­son

Men

50m freestyle - Nikoli Black­man, Zarek Wil­son

100m freestyle - Black­man, Wil­son

200m freestyle - Black­man

100m fack­stroke - Jo­hann Mata­moro

100m fut­ter­fly - Mata­moro, Wil­son

4x100m freestyle-Black­man, Wil­son, Zachary An­tho­ny

Mixed

4x100m med­ley re­lay-Fer­gu­son (W) , Ty­la Ho A Shu (W), Wil­son (M), Black­man (M)

Ta­ble Ten­nis

Women: Sin­gles - Chloe Fras­er, Jor­dan Thong

Ten­nis

Men: Sin­gles - Zachary Byng

Track and Field

Women

100m - Shani­qua Bas­combe

Long jump - Janae De Gannes

Dis­cus - Lalen­ni Grant, Shaki­ra Kirk

Triple jump - Keneisha Shel­bourne

4x100m - Bas­combe, De Gannes. Alexxe Hen­ry, Sier­ra Joseph

Men

400m - Jaden Marchan, Sha­keem Mc Kay

400m hur­dles - Dil­lon Lea­cock

Dis­cus - Jaden James

Javelin - Le Bron James, An­tho­ny Di­az

4x400m - Marchan, Mc Kay, Lea­cock, Kyrell Thomas

Triathlon

Women: Kaya Rank­ine - Bea­dle