GAMES

October 18 - There are growing fears among the 6,000 athletes from the 42 competing nations competing here at the Pan American Games regarding the fact that meat across Mexico is contaminated with the banned anabolic steroid clenbuterol.

The issue was very much a live one heading into the event but has dramatically increased in magnitude this week after tests conducted in a laboratory in Germany showed that the majority of the players who competed at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico earlier this year returned positive doping tests due to the contaminated meat with 19 of the 24 teams having squad members with traces of clenbuterol in their bodies.

The banned anabolic agent was found in 109 of 208 urine samples taken at the tournament but FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decided not to prosecute in of the any cases because the weight of evidence pointed to meat contamination.

The Organising Committee have claimed that they are confident the problem will not reoccur at the Pan American Games with Carlos Andrade Garin, the director of Guadalajara 2011, trying to offer assurances that the athletes would be fine as long as the stick to the food in the Athletes' Village.

"We are obviously aware of the problem and of what has happened before [regarding the positive tests from the FIFA Under-17 World Cup] but we are doing our best to control the issue here," he said.

"The meat at the Athletes' Village is 100 per cent reliable and we have urged the teams to stick to that.

"We know where it has come from and we have no doubts.

"The meat has been analysed and is being watched by police to avoid any chance of contamination so we do not expect problems if the teams follow our advice."

WADA has issued a statement before the Pan American Games began advising athletes travelling to Mexico to "exercise extreme caution with regards to what they eat and where they eat while the organisation's legal director Olivier Niggli highlighted the seriousness of the issue saying that it "would be perfect excuse for those who try to use doping."

The majority of the teams have admitted that they are doing everything in their power to avoid contaminated meat with United States Olympic Committee (USOC) chief of sport performance Alan Ashley saying that his team are taking the upmost care in Guadalajara.

"That's one of the things that we really try to advise them, that you've got to really watch out where you eat," said Ashley.

"They're quite used to this because in their daily lives, almost everywhere they go around the world, they're faced with eating choices and nutritional choices.

"Even if the water's purified, if it's just a different culture and a different community, it sometimes upsets you.

"Ultimately, we really just stay on the safe side because all the training, all the time, all the effort to come here, you don't want that to be the one thing that messes up your ability to compete well."

Dr Andrew Marshall, the chief medical officer of Canada's Pan American Games delegation, also said his team will be taking extra care following the revelations from the FIFA Under-17 World Cup - a tournament won by the host country Mexico - but praised the Organising Committee for ensuring safe meat in the Athletes'' Village.

"The Organising Committee have known about the issue for a long time and have been very diligent to ensure that they can guarantee safety of the food in the Village," he said.

"But while you can guarantee it in the Athletes Village, you cannot guarantee it anywhere else, even in high-quality restaurants in town, so we are being diligent."

The problems steams from the face that rogue Mexican farmers illegally inject clenbuterol into their cattle because the drug reduces fat and increases lean meat in cattle.

It is a practice that continues despite being outlawed in Mexico but health official Mikel Arriola added authorities have begun a programme of arresting farmers and shutting down slaughterhouses to stop the issue from continuing.

"We are going to continue these inspections in order to avoid poisoning the general population and doping [athletes]," he said.

-Tom Degun

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

T&T’s beach volleyball team of Elki Phillip and Ayanna Dyette was unsuccessful in their second match at the Pan American Games which is being held in Guadelajara, Mexico. The local duo went down to Cubans Nirian and Onayami Sinal in two sets 12-21, 14-21 in their Pool F match at the Beach Volleyball Stadium in Jalisco. In their opening match they were beaten 5-21, 16-21 by world champion duo Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil. In the Taekwondo event, T&T’s Leon Hypolite was pounded by Venezuelan Carlos Vasquez in the Men’s Under 80kg Division. He went down 15-3. In yachting, T&T’s Andrew Lewis finished 11th in laser race one. He sailed in behind eventual winners Saladin Aguayo of the Dominican Republic. In second place was Bruno Da Silva from Brazil and third was Julio Alsogaray of Argentina.

After three days of action in the 16th edition of the event, T&T has won one medal thanks to top local shooter Roger Danie, who took silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol final on Sunday. Today, the “First Citizens Sportsman of the Year” for 2010, will be aiming for another medal when he competes in the Men’s 50m Air Pistol event at the Pan American Games Polygon in Jalisco. Another local athlete Robert John Auerbach will see action in the Men’s Trap qualification.

Also, Dexter St Louis and his step-daughter Rheann Chung will represent T&T in their respective table-tennis events. St Louis, who is ranked 15th, will first play Juan Acosta (32) from Peru then Paraguay’s Marcelo Aquirre (7) in the Men’s singles while 21st ranked Chung will have three matches in the Women singles against American Ariel Hsing (3) in her first match, Analdy Lopez (38) of Guatemala and finally Venezuela’s Ruaida Ezzeddine (17). Beach volleyballers Phillip/Dyette will take on Ariana Vilela/Katherine Chila of Ecuador in their final preliminary round match. Andrew Lewis returns today, to compete in the two Laser races in the Sailing event. At the Panam Velodrome, T&T cyclist Njisane Phillip will look to advance out of the qualification round in the Men’s Sprint event.

-Rachel Thompson-King

Source: www.guardian.co.tt

Rheann Chung representing Trinidad and Tobago started out with a victory

City: Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
The awaited debut of Trinidad and Tobago's Rheann Chung was this afternoon in the Singles Women's Table Tennis competition. She defeated Guatemala's Analdy Lopez at the CODE I Dome.
The match Chung played against Lopez extended to the seventh set.
Juan Vila wins over Marcos Madrid
In the Men's competition, Dominican Republic's Juan Vila surrpised the host Marcos Madrid in the Group H.
The crowd at the CODE I Dome witnessed a great match and besides cheering on for Madrid, they also supported his compatriot Jude Okoh.
The President of the Mexican Olympic Committee, Felipe Muñoz, attended this last competition.
Results (Women's Round)
Evening session

Rheann Chung (TRI) defeated Analdy Lopez (GUA), 11/13, 8/11, 14/12, 11/9, 11/5, 8/11 and 11/9.
Ariel Hsing (USA) defeated Ruaia Ezzeddine (VEN), 11/6, 11/5, 11/3 and 11/4.
Mo Zhang (CAN) defeated Glendys Gonzalez (CUB), 11/6, 11/6, 11/1 and 12/10.
Maria Soto (PER) defeated Monica Serrano (MEX), 12/10, 11/5, 11/13, 11/7 and 11/4.
Xue Wu (DOM) defeated Erica Wu (USA), 11/1, 11/5, 11/2, 9/11 and 11/8.
Leisy Jimenez (CUB) defeated Mercedes Madrid (MEX), 11/7, 11/9, 11/9 and 11/6.
Lily Zhang (USA) defeated Lisi Castillo (CUB), 11/9, 11/8, 11/7 and 11/5.
Francesca Vargas (PER) defeated Karla Perez (ESA), 11/5, 11/5, 11/8 and 11/8.
Results (Men's Round):
Marcelo Aguirre (PAR) defeated Geovanny Coello (ECU), 11/7,11/5, 13/11,  and 11/6.
Dexter St. Louis (TRI) defeated Juan Acosta (PER), 3/11, 11/4, 11/3, 11/7, 7/11, 13/15 and 11/7.
Juan Vila (DOM) defeated Marcos Madrid (MEX), 5/11, 11/7, 11/8, 12/10 and 11/9.
Jorge Campos (CUB) defeated Pablo Tabachnik (ARG), 15/17, 7/11, 11/5, 9/11, 11/3, 11/9 and 11/8.
Andy Pereira (CUB) defeated Jude Okoh (MEX), 7/11, 11/8, 11/9, 11/7, 6/11 and 11/9.
Yiyong Fan (USA) defeated Emil Santos (DOM), 11/8, 11/2, 11/5 and 11/7.

Once more, Mexico meets USA in the Pan American tatami

After the firtst seven clashes in Pan American Taekwondo of the men's division, in the -79kg category, we already know the athletes competing in the quarters finals.
At the beginning of the third round of Taekwondo at the Pan American Games 2011, Sebastian Crismanich from Argentina faced up Michael Rodriguez  from Nicaragua; Crismanich slipped into the quarter finals round after the judges considered the fight finished because of technical superiority, with a final score of 12-0. In final quarters, Crismanich will measure against Canadian Sebastien Michaud, who got into quarter finals thanks to a "bye" pass.
In other battle, Mario Tellez from Cuba met Stuardo Solorzano from Guatemala; the Cuban combatant put ahead in the score right away, although the Guatemalan staff made a claim to the judges, who took one point off from Tellez and gave it to Solorzano as a result. The finals score was 8-8; Stuardo got through final quarters by sudden death.
On the other hand, Stuart Smith advanced the second round after the judges stopped the fight in the second assault,  after having subjected Jahmar Jean from the Virgin Islands with a conclusive 13-1; Jarmar was disqualified because of technical superiority. Stuart Smith will face up to Solorzano in final quarters.
Carlos Liebig from Chile achieved his access to quarter finals after beating dominican fighter Wikin Heredia in a very tough battle with a final score of 12-10.
The fifth fight of the day, between Venezuelan Carlos Vazquez  and Lenn Hypolite from Trinidad y Tobago, was the third match interrupted because of technical superiority, after the venezuelan took an advantage of 15-3; he will contend against Liebig from Chile.
Mexico's Uriel Avigdor Adriano debuted in the Pan American Games facing Colombia's Yair Medina and winning 6-5 to get into the next round.
The last fight of the preliminary round in Taekwondo men's division under 79kg, was between Timothy Curry from the USA and Brazil's Douglas Marcelino; Curry defeated the South American contender and will measure against Mexico in quarter finals.

October 14 - Neither the security fears, construction delays nor the tail end of Hurricane Jova that has caused heavy rainfall across Guadalajara over the past week could prevent the Mexican city from hosting a quite spectacular Opening Ceremony for the 2011 Pan American Games here at the 50,000 capacity Omnilife Stadium.

Even the rain, which had dominated the build-up to the event, stopped failing as the sun came out for an event attended number of high-profile dignitaries, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and the Mexican President Felipe Calderón.

It was Calderón who officially opened the competition at the conclusion of the Ceremony as he took centre stage on the podium and declared in Spanish: "With the certainty that these Games symbolise a fraternal union, peace and the prosperity that we wish for all people of the Americas; I solemnly open the 16th Pan American Games."

The Opening Ceremony had been in doubt even 24 hours before it was scheduled to take place because of the heavy rain in the week but that was not at all evident as a variety of electric performances continuously bought a deafening and passionate Mexican crowd to their feet.

A colourful dance began proceedings with Mexican vaqueros - or cowboys - riding their horses at a quick gallop around the centre of the Omnilife Stadium.

It was shortly after that the parade of the 42 nations began.

Argentina were the first to complete a lap of the stadium but the loudest cheer was unsurprisingly reserved for hosts Mexico who received a giant ovation that simply rocked the stadium.

The delegation entered wearing giant white sombreros and white tops with black trousers for the men and black skirts for the women and they achieved their goal of getting the entire crowd on their feet once again and cheering for their athletes.

The parade was followed by music and the speech from Calderon before a number of Mexican sporting legends, including footballer Rafael Marquez and boxer Julio Cesar Chavez, carried in the Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO) Flag which was raised to the Official Anthem.

It was then that an array of bright fireworks marked the conclusion of the Ceremony with Mexico set to host its biggest sporting event since the 1986 World Cup with over 6,000 athletes set to compete across 36 sports.

It was a fitting Opening for the event at the stunning Omnilife Stadium, one of the new venues for the Games after it was completed last year at a cost of $200 million (£126 million).

The venue will also host the Closing Ceremony of the competition as well as the football tournament while the first ever public match played in it was a friendly between Guadalajara and Manchester United last year.

Guadalajara won the game 3- 2, with the first goal at the stadium scored by Javier "Chicharito" Hernández playing for Guadalajara.

Hernández played the entire first half for Guadalajara and switched sides to Manchester United in the second half, symbolically sealing his transfer contract signed in March 2010.

The first official match was the first game of the final of the Copa Libertadores which saw Inter de Porto Alegre beat Guadalajara 2–1.

-Tom Degun

Source: www.insidethegames.biz