T&T’s Special Olympics athletes captured five gold and two silver yesterday at the World Games in Abu Dhabi. Swimmer Melissa Nanan led the way at the Hamdan Sports Complex pool, holding off a strong challenge to finish first in the 50m freestyle with a time of 57.69 seconds.
Jaleel Pierre also enjoyed golden success in the pool. On Saturday morning, he won silver in the 50m freestyle in 33.48 seconds sharing the same time with Balent Joseph Ranz of Hungary. He would return to the pool later in the day to win gold in the 25m butterfly. He stopped the clock at 17.72 seconds. T&T also had Nadira Mohan finishing in 42.62 seconds and Trent Bethel finishing in 31.98 seconds, both placing fourth in their respective 50m finals.
It was also a golden day for the country’s track athletes. Running in the F10 final of the 200m event, Tershana Tempro won gold for T&T as the athletics competition began at the Police Club Stadium. Salama Kheir Idrisa of Tanzania won silver less than a second later while Salama Kheir Idrisa of Tunisia took home bronze.
In the F21 final of the 200m event, 28-year-old T&T sprinter La Toya Charles showed why she is considered the SOTT’s ‘Sprint Queen’ when she won gold in a time of 30.90 seconds. Charles finished ahead of Bahrain’s Aysha Alsubei, who clocked a time of 32.11 seconds while Kristina Richard of Canada finished third.
Among the equestrian athletes, Aaliyah Harrigin rode to gold in the “Level CI - Working Trails” at the AL Forsan International Sports Resort. Riding the horse Al Amro, Harrigin scored 66 points holding-off Anton Edinak of Russia, who scored 58 points, and Joseph Bradley of the USA, who finished with 57 points. Fellow T&T rider Jamella Bart, also earned silver. Riding Ajeeba, Bart placed second with 46 points in her Group D5 “Level CI - Working Trails” event. Kellie Simmons, aboard Tchuss, finished fourth in her group D6 “Level CI - Working Trails”.
The bocce team was also back in action after winning silver on Friday. Competing in bocce singles, Bernard Singh drew 5:5 with Siosi Sebastian of Papua New Guinea and lost 5:12 to Jiang Hong Pan of Chinese Taipei. Gary Boodoo, who won a team silver the previous day, overcame Cecil Fevrier of St. Lucia 6:0 and Saurab Karki of Nepal 12:1 in the singles.
Today, the action continues across several of these disciplines, with T&T vying for medals.