Nicholas Paul was surprisingly relegated to the sixth and last position in the final of the keirin at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador on Sunday.
The T&T world record holder for the flying 200-metre sprint in 9.100 seconds, was well on course for his second gold medal of the tournament, having won the match-sprint gold with two straight wins over his countryman Kwesi Browne last week Friday. But yesterday, he found himself in an infringement with Mexican rider Edgar Verdugo as both tried to position themselves for the sprint to the finish line.
Paul, who was expected to pedal away with the win, was eventually relegated to the last position while the Mexican was to the fifth.
The race was won by Juan Ruiz of Mexico, with Colombia’s Kevin Quintero taking the runner-up silver medal.
Another Colombian Cristian Ortega secured the third position, while hometown favourite Wilber Martinez was fourth.
Earlier, T&T’s Kwesi Browne claimed the seventh position in the ride-off for the 7th-12th positions. After failing to seal a place in the final the day before (Saturday), Browne exacted revenge by disposing of the large field to get ahead before eight-place Dairon Ortega of Cuba and ninth Yansel Arias, who is also from Cuba.
Meanwhile, Akil Campbell, the T&T endurance rider, just missed out on a medal in the men’s Omnium.
Campbell, the country’s only gold medallist at an international event in the endurance races, entered yesterday’s final two rounds of action in the second position, following Saturday’s victory in the 1/4 Scratch Race early that morning, before later placing third in the Tempo Race behind Colombia’s Juan Arango.
He needed good finishes in yesterday’s Elimination and Point Races for a place on the podium. However, in the Elimination event, Campbell was second, finishing behind Ricardo Pena of Mexico to put himself in a decent position for a medal.
And in the final Points race, the T&T rider was fourth, taking him just out of the medal count. The omnium was by Pena who amassed a total of 154 points, with Arango in the second-place finish with 145 points, while Cuba’s Alejandro Parra was third with 136 points.
Campbell’s fourth-place finish came from a total of 135 points.
VOLLEYBALL
T&T’s men’s volleyballers secured the 8th position overall after going down to Suriname 3-1.
At the Palacio de los Deportes Carlos el Famoso in a play-off for seventh and eighth positions, the men in red, white and black struggled against a superior Suriname outfit early, surrendering the first two sets 18-25, 18-25.
They (T&T) stormed back to give themselves some hope with a 25-21 triumph in the third set that put them behind at 1-2 and forced a fourth game. However, it was as far as they could have managed, as Suriname stamped their authority on the match by taking the final set 26-24 for the seventh-place position.
HOCKEY
The prolific Teague Marcano scored a beaver-trick (four times) as T&T demolished the Dominican Republic 9-0 to cruise into the semifinal of the tournament as the second-placed team in Group B. The unbeaten Cubans took the top spot in the group.
But following Friday’s 6-3 loss to Cuba at the Parque del Este, the T&T men needed to win to enter the round of four. Marcano’s goals which came courtesy of two field goals and as many penalty/corner items, helped the men in the red, white and black strips take the halftime advantage 3-0.
Joel Daniel also got a double from the field in the win while the trio of Akim Toussaint, Shundell Pierre and Tariq Marcano scored a goal apiece for T&T to seal their place in the semis.
Meanwhile, the T&T Women were beaten by Cuba 4-1 on Saturday and are uncertain to earn a qualifying berth, having lost also to Mexico 3-1 last week.
BASKETBALL
The quartet of Ahkeem “Fatto” Boyd, Nathyon Lewis, Chike Augustine and Tyrese Fields could not stop their Suriname counterparts in their fifth and sixth-place play-off, going 21-15.
The result meant that the T&T team had to settle for a sixth-place finish with Suriname fifth. It was the second consecutive match that T&T played with just three players with Boyd missing in the line up.