Pan Am wins for De Boulet, 3x3 basketball team

Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s 3x3 basketball team and badminton player Chequeda De Boulet picked up opening victories in their respective disciplines at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, on Saturday.

At the Estadio Espanol, the 3x3 team had a winning start to Group B as they secured a 22-15 triumph over Dominican Republic.

Despite the Dominican Republic scoring the first point, TT soon tied things up at three points each. But when Ahkeem Boyd put TT ahead with a two-pointer in the third minute, they never looked back and rallied to the end for the win.

The squad was made up of Boyd brothers Ahkeem and Ahkeel, Moriba De Freitas and Chike Augustine.

After press time on Friday, TT faced Puerto Rico in their second match. The quartet is expected back on court on Sunday.

Additionally, at the Centro de Entrenamiento Olimpico, De Boulet notched a 2-1 victory over El Salvadorian Daniela Cativo in the women’s singles round of 32.

After losing the first set 9-21, De Boulet fought back to win the second set 21-10, and battled to the end in the decider, to snatch a 23-21 triumph.

She returns to action on Sunday from 10am, in a round of 16 tie against Nikte Ovando of the Independent Athletes Team.

Earlier on, TT’s Reece Marcano lost his men’s singles round of 32 opener 2-0 against Peruvian Adriano Aguirre. Marcano went down in the first set 21-9 and then fell 21-8 in the second.

Meanwhile, TT’s boxers continued to struggle on day three as Ortega Jokhu lost his men’s 51kg round of 16 opening tie against Colombian Yuberjen Martinez.

Martinez won after Azerbaijan referee Emil Gurbanaliyev stopped the contest after one minute and 36 seconds into round three.

Jokhu was knocked down in the second and third rounds and was pivotal in the referee’s decision. Martinez won the five-round affair 20-16, 20-16, 20-17, 20-16, 20-16.

Boxing continues on Sunday with TT’s Tianna Guy starting her campaign against Colombia’s Angie Pana, from 10.15am. Action will be in the women’s 60kg.

Aaron Solomon also begins his men’s 71kg quest versus Canadian Junior Pétanque, from 6.30pm.

In weightlifting, TT’s Karin Singh was tenth after the first round of snatch and clean and jerk, in the Group A of the women’s 49kg. In the snatch, she was 11th best, and then tenth in the clean and jerk; totalling 111pts.

Also in action on Sunday are endurance cyclists Akil Campbell and Alexi Costa, who will both face the starter in the men's (noon) and women’s (8am) individual time trial.