Carter wins third CAC gold

NATIONAL swimmer Dylan Carter continues to show he is the big fish in the pool at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in Colombia.

Last night, Carter won his third gold medal of the games, touching the wall first in the men's backstroke 50m final in a new CAC record of 24.83 seconds.

He has won gold medals in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly butterfly already. Carter will have company on the podium as David McLeod of TT copped bronze in the 50m backstroke in 25.55. Finishing in second place was Venezuelan Robinson Molina.

Teneil Campbell copped her second bronze in Colombia in the four-race women's omnium event as TT's medal tally increased to 10 – four gold, one silver and five bronze. In the scratch final, Campbell finished second, earning 38 points to place behind Mexican Lizbeth Salazar.

In the tempo race, Campbell was fourth and grabbed 34 points for her effort before finishing second again behind Salazar in the elimination race and got 38 points.

In the final event of the omnium, Campbell finished fifth in the points race to grab 16 more points. Campbell finished with 126 points to cop bronze, Salazar won gold with 142 points and Cuban Yudelmis Dominguez took silver with 126 points.

Nicholas Paul and Njisane Phillip are on a collision course to meet in the finals of the men's sprint today as both are in separate semi-finals.

In the quarter-finals yesterday, Paul defeated Venezuelan Cesar Marcano in two straight rides, winning the races in 10.137 and 10.048 seconds respectively. Phillip also won his quarter-final in two rides, prevailing in 10.491 and 10.594.

Today in the semifinals, Paul will face Colombian Kevin Quintero, and Phillip will come up against Colombian Fabian Puerta hoping to advance to the final later today.

Earlier, Paul broke the track record at the Velódromo Alcides Nieto Patiño with a blistering time of 9.720 to finish first in qualifying. The venue has hosted top cycling events including World Championships and World Cups. Phillip was second in qualifying in 9.886.

It was tough time for the TT pair of Adam Alexander and Jovian Gomez in the men's individual pursuit 4K qualifying. Alexander stopped the clock in four minutes and 46.834 seconds to finish 11th. Gomez was 13th and last in 4:49.466. The first two riders qualified for the gold medal ride and the third and fourth place finishers advanced to the bronze medal ride.

In swimming, Kael Yorke qualified for the final of the men's 100m butterfly. Yorke touched the wall in 54.57 seconds in heat two to qualify for the final, which took place after press time last night. The TT quartet of Carter, Yorke, Joshua Romany and Jabari Baptiste booked a place in the men's 4x100m freestyle final which was held after press time last night. TT finished third in heat two in 3:27.77, behind Venezuela (3:26.84) and Mexico (3:22.75).

In squash, both the TT men's and women's teams suffered defeats. In men's team qualification pool C, TT lost 3-0 to Cayman Islands. Jacob Kelly outlasted Nku Patrick in five sets 15-13, 3-11, 11-8, 0-11, 11-5; Cameron Stafford got past Kale Wilson 11-5, 12-10, 11-6; and Julian Jervis defeated Chayse McQuan 11-4, 11-5, 11-8. In the women's team qualification pool A, Mexico defeated TT 3-0. Diana Garcia outplayed Alexandria Yearwood 11-0, 11-3, 11-1; Samantha Teran outlasted Charlotte Knaggs 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4; and Dina Anguiano was a winner over Marie-Claire Barcant 11-2, 11-1, 11-6.

In women's hockey, TT booked a place in the semifinals with a narrow 1-0 win over Jamaica as Shaniah DeFreitas got the winner in the 34th minute. TT will face Cuba in the semifinals tomorrow.

In women's football, TT defeated Haiti 3-0 in a group B encounter. TT needed Mexico to defeat Nicaragua by a huge margin after press time last night to advance to the semifinals.

On Monday, the TT women's volleyballers fell 3-1 to Mexico in the quarter-finals. After winning the first set 25-20, TT lost the next three sets 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 and were eliminated.

In the men's cycling scratch race finals, Akil Campbell of TT ended eighth. In women's singles table tennis, TT players Rheann Chung and Catherine Spicer were both knocked out in the round of 32. Cuban Idalys Covet defeated Chung 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 and Venezuelan Nino Neridee got past Spicer 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6.