Rough start to Trinidad and Tobago's athletics at CAC Games

Trinidad and Tobago’s track and field athletes had a rough start to their Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games athletics campaign at the Estadio Nacional Jorge El Mágico González in San Salvador, El Salvador on Monday night.

Four athletes missed out on podium spots after competing in finals. Sprinter Kion Benjamin placed sixth in the men’s 100m final in 10.49s. Guyana’s Emanuel Archibald (10.24s), Dominican Republic’s Jose Gonzalez (10.26s) and British Virgin Islands’ Rikkoi Brathwaite (10.26s) were the top three finishers respectively.

In his earlier semi-final heat, Benjamin topped heat three in 10.29s. Countryman Eric Harrison did not make it to the final after he placed fourth (10.46s) in heat one. His time was not among the eight fastest.

In the women’s equivalent, Leah Bertrand finished sixth in 11.57s while Akilah Lewis placed eighth in 11.64s. Winning the event was St Lucian Julien Alfred (11.14s) while Jamaican Yanique Dayle (11.39s) was second and Cuban Yunisleidy Garcia (11.50s) third. Their earlier qualifier races saw Bertrand top heat three in 11.44s while Lewis was fourth in 11.57s in heat one.

TT Olympian Tyra Gittens leapt to sixth in the women’s long jump. She disturbed the sand at 6.39m in her first of six attempts. Gold went to Colombian Natalia Linares (686m), silver to Cuban Leyanis Perez (6.65m) and bronze to Puerto Rican Alysbeth Felix (6.44m).

And in the men’s shot put final, Hezekiel Romeo’s distance of 18.42m was good enough for fifth while Akeem Stewart did not start.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s men’s hockey semi-final between TT and Barbados was postponed to Wednesday at 8am owing to bad weather. On Wednesday, the TT women’s hockey team face Jamaica in the fifth place playoff at 10.15am.

Also, the men’s water polo team meet Venezuela in the quarter-finals from 8pm. This came after TT defeated the Bahamas 11-7 at the Complejo Acuatico Merliot on Monday night.

TT dominated the contest by holding an early 3-2 first-quarter lead and extending it to 6-3 by halftime. Despite the Bahamas scoring three and TT two, in the third period, they rallied on to score three more in the final quarter to notch victory.

Women’s volleyball jumped off after press time on Tuesday as TT faced El Salvador in their first group B match at the Palacio do los Deportes Carlos el Famoso. They play Colombia on Wednesday from 3.30pm.

Swimmer Nikoli Blackman also shifts from his pool performances last week to the open water 5k at Lake Ilopango from 11am. He is among 19 open-water swimmers.

Meanwhile, TT’s netball squad had a wonderful start to their campaign as they drubbed the Dominican Republic 108-10 on Monday, after press time at the Gimnasio Nacional Jose Adolfo Pineda.

Afeisha Noel was ruthless with the ball as she scored 47 of her 51 shots. Joelisa Cooper was in perfect form as she scored all 21 of her attempts while Shaniya Morgan scored 22 from 24 and Tianna Dillon, 14 from 16.

TT were scheduled to play Barbados late on Tuesday night and meet St Vincent and the Grenadines from 9.30pm on Wednesday.

In badminton, Will Lee had a winning 2-0 start against Costa Rican Marco Castillo in his round of 16 opener while compatriot Chequeda De Boulet lost by the same margin against Mexican Haramara Gaitan.

The TT pair was carded to meet Mexican duo Miriam Rodriguez/Luis Montoya in the opener of the mixed double on Tuesday night.

US-based women’s pro road cyclist Alexi Costa-Ramirez returns to action at 10am for the individual time trial. On Friday, she and countryman Akil Campbell take on their respective road races. The women ride off at 10am and the men, two hours later. Chess players also begin their competition with Joshua Johnson, Hayden Lee and Gabriella and Adaya Johnson contesting the rapid board rounds. Also, the men’s beach football team were locked in battle against Venezuela in their final group match at the Complejo Deportivo Flor Blanca on Tuesday evening.