Hockey men flick their way to silver in CAC Games

THE TT men’s hockey team added silver to the nation’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games medal tally after going down 5-1 Mexico in the final at the Parque del Este in El Salvador on Thursday.

Akim Toussaint scored TT’s lone item in the gold medal match while Mexicans' Alexander Sandoval (two), Erick Hernandez, Luis Villegas and Andre Benedith put the match beyond reach.

This was TT’s 13th medal of the Games, having captured four gold, five silver and four bronze so far. TT are currently tenth on the overall 2023 medal table.

Meanwhile, TT were also podium contenders in the men’s 200m final on Wednesday night but Carlon Hosten could only churn out a seventh place finish. He clocked 20.86s.

However, going for gold, after press time, on Thursday was 400m specialist Jereem Richards in the final and two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott in the men’s javelin.

The women’s netball team remained unbeaten after three matches on Wednesday night as they dominated St Vincent and the Grenadine 60-30 at the Gimnasio Nacional Jose Adolfo Pineda.

Afeisha Noel continued her good run of form by scoring 25 of 31 shots and Joelisa Cooper was flawless, scoring all 20 attempts on goal. Chipping in were Tianna Dillon (11pts) and Shaniya Morgan (four pts).

Earlier on Wednesday, the Calypso Girls edged Barbados 50-47 and swept Dominican Republic 108-10 on Monday. They were also scheduled to face Cayman Islands after press time on Thursday and then Jamaica at 9:30pm on Friday.

Up to press time, TT’s men water polo team were still in action at the Complejo Acuatico Merilot against Centro Caribe Sports (CCS) in the fifth to eighth place play-off.

On Wednesday night, the team were unable to get past Venezuela in the final group match and lost 23-11.

Similarly, the women’s volleyball team will contest the fifth to eighth final on Friday after losing their last two fixtures at the Palacio de los Deportes Carlos el Famoso.

After press time on Wednesday night, TT lost 3-0 (25/9, 25-9, 25-6) to Colombia and fell by the same margin (25-16, 25-17, 25-17) to Cuba on Thursday morning.

To taekwondo, TT’s Dorian Alexander lost his men’s 68kg preliminary round of 16 bout 2-1 to CCS’ Diego Montufar on Thursday while countryman Daniel Dasent-Thompson was defeated in his 80kg quarter-final 1-0 against Colombian Soto Luis.

Also, Nikoli Blackman concludes his CAC stint when he contests the men’s open water sim 10k event at the Parque Recreativo Apulo from 11am. On Wednesday, he competed in the 5k version and placed 14th.

Cycling concludes on Friday and will feature TT’s Alexi Ramirez and Akil Campbell go for gold in the women (11am) and men (12:30pm) road races.