Carter goes for second medal

SWIMMER DYLAN Carter will be vying for his second medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games today, the fourth day of action at the Gold Coast in Australia.

The 22-year-old, who took the silver medal in the men’s 50-metre butterfly on Friday, qualified for today’s final of the men’s 100-metre freestyle, at the Optus Aquatic Centre.

In the second semi-final yesterday, Carter finished fourth in 49.06 seconds, trailing 50m butterfly gold medallist Chad le Clos of South Africa (48.61 seconds), Kyle Chalmers of Australia (48.70) and Yuri Kisil of Canada (48.79). Fifth-placed Daniel Hunter of New Zealand (49.11) also advanced to today’s final, which is scheduled for 5.43 am (TT time).

In the first semi, Cameron McEvoy of Australia won in 48.50, ahead of Scotland’s Duncan Scott (48.72) and Australia’s Jack Cartwright (48.73).

The lane assignments for today’s decider were not confirmed up to press time yesterday, but it will be a tough task for Carter, as his semi-final clocking is the seventh-fastest among the finalists.

In the first round, Carter placed second in heat eight, after completing the distance in 48.96, behind Chalmers (48.81).

Carter is slated to compete in the 100m butterfly first round today, but no decision was announced whether or not the University of Southern California-based student will feature or skip that event, and focus exclusively on today’s final.

Nicholas Paul will also be seeking a medal today, as the 19-year-old is among a field of 24 in the men’s 1000-metre time trial.

Today will be the last day for track cycling at the 2018 Games and Paul will be hoping to end a miserable run, thus far, for the TT riders.

Yesterday, the trio of Paul, Njisane Phillip and Keron Bramble failed to impress in the men’s sprint.

A total of 23 riders featured in the qualifying stage, with Paul placing 13th with a time of 9.836 seconds, while Phillip was 15th with a 9.986 clocking.

The top 16 moved into the next round, but Bramble did not advance, as he was 18th with a time of 10.214.

In the knockout phase, Phillip lost to Jack Carlin of Scotland in heat two while Paul was beaten by Ryan Owens of England in heat four.

The TT men’s beach volleyball duo of Daneil Williams and Daynte Stewart won their first match in the preliminary round Pool A stage.

At the Coolangatta Beach Court One, Williams and Stewart earned a 21-14, 21-14 result over Shawn Seabrookes and St Clair Hodge of St Kitts/Nevis.

Williams, in an interview on the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) Twitter page, commented, “It’s nice to have a win under your belt as always. It was important, going forward, to win this match. I’m just looking forward to the rest of games now, to finish off our group on top.”

Today, the Williams-Stewart duo will meet Fiji’s Inia Korowale and Sairusi Cavula at 1 am (TT time) while the national women’s pair of Abby Blackman and Rheeza Grant was due to face Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan in a Pool B contest yesterday, at 10.30 pm (TT time).

TT’s participation in squash will now be strictly focused on the doubles category, as the trio of Mandela Patrick, Kale Wilson and Charlotte Knaggs had varying defeats in their respective singles matches at the Oxenford Studios.

In the consolation plate semi-finals, Patrick defaulted his match against James Fayia of Sierra Leone, while Knaggs did the same in her match vs Eilidh Bridgeman of the Cayman Islands.

And, in the men’s plate quarter-final phase, Joe Chapman of the British Virgin Islands strolled to a 13-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3 victory over Wilson.

The TT track and field contingent will all begin their medal quests today, at the Carrara Stadium.

The women’s 100-metre first round will feature Khalifa St Fort (heat one), national champ Michelle-Lee Ahye (heat four) and Reyare Thomas (heat six). Current national title-holder Emmanuel Callender (heat four), Keston Bledman (heat five) and Jonathan Farinha (heat eight) will participate in the men’s 100m first round.

The trio of Machel Cedenio (heat one), Renny Quow (heat three) and Lalonde Gordon (heat four) will compete in the men’s 400m first round, and Paralympic gold medallist Akeem Stewart will be involved in the qualifying phase of the men’s shot put.