Trinidad and Tobago’s netballers suffered a second heavy defeat in as many outings in Pool B at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday, falling 80-38 to Uganda at The Hydro.
Coming off an 81-22 loss to Jamaica’s “Sunshine Girls”, the “Calypso Girls”, coached by Carlette Nurse, made a few changes to the squad. Notably, veteran goal-attack Joelisa Cooper, 37, was moved to the bench, allowing Demisha Henry to start alongside Afeisha Noel, 40, who maintained her goal-shooter spot.
T&T had a much better start but still trailed 19-10 at the end of the first 15-minute quarter. By the halftime interval, the Ugandans had boosted their margin to 40-19 after a dominant 21-9 second quarter.
The third period saw the introduction of Cooper, with Henry moving to wing-attack for Janeisha Cassimy. However, Uganda continued to control the flow of the contest, winning the quarter 16-11 for a 56-30 lead.
In the final quarter, Uganda enjoyed their best offensive output with 24 goals while limiting T&T to just six, making full use of their 18 interceptions and 17 deflections in the contest.
For Uganda, goal-shooter Mary Cholhok had a team-high 32 goals from 41 attempts. Substitute goal-attack Shadiah Nassanga netted 20 from 21 attempts, Alice Ikito tallied a perfect 20 goals from 20 attempts, and goal-attack Racheal Nanyonga chipped in eight from ten.
T&T, meanwhile, was led by Noel for the second time with 23 goals from 28 attempts. Henry scored seven of her eight efforts, and Cooper added six of seven.
Also in Pool B yesterday, Scotland defeated Wales 56-47 and New Zealand held off Jamaica 53-48. In Pool A, Australia defeated England 66-47, Malawi beat Northern Ireland 64-48, and South Africa dominated Tonga 96-42.
Monday, T&T faces Scotland from 4 pm, while Jamaica and Uganda meet two hours earlier in the opening match of Pool B. In Pool A, England faces Malawi from 9 am, and Tonga meets Northern Ireland from 11 am.
Also Sunday, Reuben Ward claimed gold with 79.650, narrowly edging out Canada’s Felix Dolci by 0.200 points. Australia’s Jesse Moore bagged the bronze medal, rounding out the podium with 79.000.
On Saturday, in the women’s qualification round, local gymnast Dailia Burke placed 31st with a total score of 40.350 and did not progess to the final.
Meanwhile, the track and field action will get underway Monday. T&T’s Eric Harrison Jr and Omari Lewis compete in heats six and nine, respectively, of the men’s 100 metres. In the women’s 100m heats, Leah Bertrand features in the second heat, Reese Webster in heat five, and former champion Michelle-Lee Ahye in the sixth.
Kelsey Daniel is also listed among the ten competitors in Group A of the men’s long jump qualifying round.
