Cyclist Teniel Campbell secured the first medal for Trinidad and Tobago at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games when she got bronze in the women's road cycling individual time trial in Mirador, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Saturday.
Competing among a field of 17 entrants, the 28-year-old Campbell, who was the 15th cyclist to hit the course, completed her ride in 40 minutes and 59.31 seconds. She finished behind gold medalist Marlies Mejias of Cuba (40:15.79) and Mexico's Sara Roel (40:33.53).
In the men's individual time trial, T&T's Tariq Woods, 24, ended in 14th spot with a time of 52 minutes and 59.66 seconds.
US-born T&T tennis player Dillon Beckles continued his winning ways in the men's singles, battling past El Salvador's Cesar Cruz 7-6(3), 6-4 in a two-hour and 30-minute round-of-16 meeting. This followed his 6-0, 6-0 trouncing of Khalil Burroughs of St Kitts & Nevis on Friday. Next up for Beckles is a quarterfinal clash with second-seeded Juan Sebastian Gomez of Colombia, who defeated Honduran Guillermo Bennaton 6-2, 3-0 (retired) in their last-16 match.
At the Corales Golf Course, T&T's Chris Richards Jr teed off his men's individual campaign with a first-round score of two-under-par 70 over 18 holes to sit in fifth place. He trails six shots behind Guatemalan Jose Manuel Toledo Novales, who carded an impressive eight-under-par 64. The trio of Manuel Alejandro Torres Salazar (Venezuela), Luis Carrera Melia (Mexico), and Dominican Republic's Juan Jose Guerra Sanoja are tied for second at three-under-par 69.
The 21-year-old Richards Jr started shaky with bogeys on the par-four first and par-five fourth holes. However, he birdied the par-five seventh and par-four eighth to claw his way back to even par after the first ten holes. Richards Jr then dropped another shot on the par-three 11th but bounced back with consecutive birdies on the 13th (par-four) and 14th (par-five) holes, adding another birdie on the 16th to stay within striking distance of the leading quartet heading into today's second round.
Ruggermen win, lose in rugby sevens
The T&T men's rugby team defeated Costa Rica 20-5 in their rugby sevens opener, led by two tries from Isaac Small and one each from Jonathan Taylor and Jeremiah Moore. Denis Rodriguez scored a second-half try for the Central Americans.
However, in their second outing of the day, T&T was outclassed 17-5 by Colombia. Andrew Quash scored the lone try for T&T, while Alejandro Guisao, Jhon Urrutia, and Juan Ruiz each crossed the line for Colombia, with Jhjan Ortiz adding a conversion. Colombia, who led 12-0 at halftime against T&T, had earlier powered past the Dominican Republic 26-12 in their opener.
In their final pool match today, T&T faces Dominican Republic from 11.28 am, while Colombia comes up against Costa Rica at 11.06 am.
In chess, T&T's Sandhya Ramsaroop topped round one of the women's Second Rapid Board with a score of 1.0 B18, just ahead of Costa Rica's Victoria Canales Chinchilla (1.0 B23) and Jamaica's Adani Clarke (1.0 B15). On the First Rapid Board, T&T's other entrant Zara Le Fleur sat in fourth place at the end of round one with a score of 1.0 W17, trailing Colombian Nicolle Mogollon (1.0 B11), Haiti's Rose Seine (1.0 B20), and Panama's Ashley Castillo (1.0 W31).
Joshua Johnson placed eighth out of 16 players with a 0.5 B19 score in the men's First Rapid Board play at the end of round one, while Kevin Cupid was tenth with a 0.5 W20 score in the Second Rapid Board round one action. Four more rounds were scheduled for completion yesterday, ahead of the final five rounds today.
Women's beach volleyballers lose opener
The women's beach volleyball duo of Malika Davidson and Apphia Glasgow were swept aside in their Group C opener against Guatemala's Paola Alvarado and Naomi Monney, falling 7-21, 9-21. Today from 2 pm, Davidson and Glasgow return to the courts to face Mexicans Abril Flores and Susana Torres, who won their opener against Grenada's Thornia Mitchell and Renish Stafford 21-9, 21-18. Tomorrow, the T&T women will conclude round-robin pool play against the Grenadian pair.
Today, T&T's Jahreef Miguel and Jerome Morrison will also serve off their campaign in men's Group D round-robin play against Antigua and Barbuda's Miguel Lugo and Raenor Sharpe. This will be followed by matches against El Salvador's Rafael Vargas and Gabriel Vargas on Tuesday, and Belize's Ernest Broaster and Francis Hauze a day later.
In Archery women's individual compound round-of-16 elimination round, El Salvador's Camila Alvarenga beat T&T's Tennille Plata 142-133 while Ava-Marie Singh, who surpassed the previous national record (138/150), came up short against Venezuela's Ana Mendoza 140-145; and Alexi Jaggernauth was beaten by Colombian Sara Lopez 131-148.
In the men's individual compound round-of-16, Samir Ramjattan was narrowly edged out by El Salvador's Roberto Hernandez 144-149, Robert Gibson was beaten by Colombia's Jagdeep Singh 128-148, and Tristan Buuron went down to Guatemalan Pedro Salazar 133-147.
T&T athletes also saw action in the men's 10km open water swimming event, where 19-year-old Tyrrel Celestine failed to complete the course. Meanwhile, surfer Aiden Albada will contest the repechage of the men's shortboard event after scoring 4.17 to finish third in heat three, behind Venezuelan Jose Joaquin Lopez (10 points) and Panamanian Teo Gale Grani (8.26).
Last night, the T&T women's basketball team was scheduled to play their opening Pool B match against the host Dominican Republic. They will next face El Salvador tomorrow, followed by Mexico on Wednesday to end pool play.
