Alexander to face Cuban for lightweight gold

NATIONAL boxer Michael Alexander will be going for gold against Cuba’s Lazaro Estrada, in the men’s lightweight category, at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.

The 25-year-old Alexander, who took bronze in the men’s lightweight at the 2014 CAC Games in Veracruz, Mexico, went one step further yesterday as he defeated Panama’s Jonathan Murillo in their semi-final bout by four points to nil.

And Alexander will return to the ring on Thursday to seek his first gold in a major competition. He also earned a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The TT women football team failed in their bid to claim bronze yesterday, as they fell to a 1-0 loss to Venezuela in the third-place playoff. Midfielder Paola Villamizar was the goal-getter for Venezuela, in the 59th minute.

TT’s tennis player Breana Stampfli was unable to capture bronze in the women’s singles. Stampfli was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos.

In track and field, Hezekiel Romeo and Akeem Stewart were sixth and seventh respectively in the men’s shot put final last evening. Romeo had a best effort of 18.57 metres and Stewart followed with 18.48. The top three places went to Jamaicans Odayne Richards (21.02m), Ashinia Miller (20.19) and British Virgin Islands’ Eldred Henry (20.18m).

Ruebin Walters won the second semi-final of the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.64 seconds, followed by Juan Moreno of Colombia (13.72) and Jamaica’s Lafranz Campbell (14.06).

Aaron Lewis also moved into the final of the men’s 110m hurdles after placing fifth in the first semi-final, in 14.15 seconds – he advanced as a fastest ‘loser’.

Ayanna Alexander (women’s long jump), Alena Brooks (women’s 800m) and Khalifa St Fort (women’s 100m) were vying for medals last evening.

Today will see TT featuring in the men’s and women’s 200m, the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, as well as the men’s long jump, women’s heptathlon and women’s discus.

The national men’s water polo team edged Jamaica 8-6 in their classification 5-8 match, but the women were humiliated 22-1 by Cuba in their preliminary round fixture.

The TT women will tackle Mexico today in the quarter-final round.

In rifle shooting, the national trio of Roger Daniel, Clement Marshall and Rhodney Allen were unable to progress to the final of the men’s 25-metre rapid fire pistol.

Daniel was 10th with 549 points, Marshall was 23rd and last with 463, but Allen did not finish.

In the team category, TT tallied 1,259 points to finish bottom of the eight-team pile.

Today, Daniel, Marshall and Allen will compete in the men’s 25m standard pistol individual division.

The national men’s volleyball team were beaten 25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22 by Guatemala in their preliminary round Pool B encounter.

TT archers had a tough time during their respective men’s and women’s compound individual elimination rounds.

In the men’s section, TT’s Jonathon Thomas and Martinique’s Fabien Clombe finished tied with 140 points apiece, but Clombe prevailed in a shoot-out. Jose Del Cid of Guatemala beat Hasmath Ali 146-140 and Colombia’s Sebastian Arenas whipped Peter Kong 142-133.

In the women’s category, Priyanka Dhanie was soundly beaten, 143-119, by Puerto Rico’s Marla Cintron.

Today (TUESDAY), the TT men’s trio of Thomas, Ali and Kong will participate in the quarter-final round of the men’s compound team event, where they will face Mexico.

The men’s recurve individual events are on the agenda today, with Johnathan Mosca squaring off against Guadeloupe’s Dominique Roux-Serret and Daniel Catariz Ragbir opposing Eddy Hernandez of the Dominican Republic.

The TT women’s beach volleyball duo of Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman fell to a 21-10, 21-15 defeat to the Mexican pair of Martha Jimenez and Zaira Hernandez. Grant and Blackman will be back in action today, in a ninth-12th place match, against Honduras.

The TT men’s beach volleyball pair of Daneil Williams and Daynte Stewart were expected to meet Mexico in a quarter-final game last evening. Today, in badminton, Will Lee will meet Dominican Republic’s Cesar Gonzalez in the men’s singles, Avril Marcelle will tackle Diana Soto in the women’s singles and the tandem of Lee and Marcelle will square off against Ricketts Samuel and Katherine Wynter in the mixed doubles.