Gymnasts Newman-Achee, debutant Ali tackle Senior Pan Ams on Friday

North American-based TT gymnasts Annalise Newman-Achee and national debutant Jameel Ali will fly the red, white and black at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics Senior Pan American Championships Iván de Bedout Gym in Medellin, Columbia, from this Friday to Sunday.

This will be the third time that US-based Newman-Achee, accompanied by her coach Ann Kolasa, will be representing at the regional championships which are the qualifiers for the XIX Pan American Sports Games in Santiago, Chile, and the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, later on this year.

Newman-Achee competed successfully at the USAG 2023 Level 10 Developmental Programme National Championships earlier this month in Oklahoma City with her New Jersey Club, Arena Gymnastics, and will be heading on scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley in September.

Canadian-based Ali will be representing TT for the first time. He currently trains at Manjaks Gymnastics in Toronto and previously competed as a member of the University of Washington’s successful gymnastics team.

In January, Ali competed at Elite Canada in Saskatchewan and would have competed at the Canadian Nationals in Richmond just before heading to Columbia.

Accompanying him in Medellin is his coach, Jonathan Scripnick. Ali begins his quest on Friday at 10.30am (TT time) in subdivision one along with gymnasts from the US, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Newman-Achee hits the floor on Saturday from 11.05am, also in subdivision one, against the likes of Jamaica, Brazil and Peru among others.

Coverage of the event can be followed on the Pan Am Sports channel www.panamsportschannel.org as well as the social media networks of the Pan American Gymnastics Union (UPAG-PAGU).