Monday 17th November 2014, Trinidad and Tobago’s 3rd day of competition had 8 sporting disciplines, the most events for the country in this year’s CAC Games, with 30 scheduled events of which 3 were postponed due the weather conditions.

 

Table Tennis:

In Table tennis singles, T&T had six athletes each playing 2 matches in Men’s/Women’s groups of three opponents. Rheann Chung in group 5 was the first to defeat her opponents from Dominican Republic’s Karla Brito and Guatemala’s Andrea Montufar 3-0 each. Ashley Quashie wasn’t so successful, losing to Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz 3-0 and withdrawing against Barbados’s Angela Reid in group 9. Past CAC medalist Dexter St. Louis recovered from a 3-0 loss to Cuba’s Jorge to defeat Erick Aviles of El Salvador 3-1 in group 3. Catherine Spicer was unfortunate to capitalize on her impressive forehand attacks, falling short of her Venezuelan opponent Wimberly Montero in the second, third and fourth sets, losing 3-1 in group 9. 16 year old Aaron Wilson came from behind to defeat his much older 44 year old Jamaican opponent Michael Hyatt 3-2 but was over powered by the dominant Yohan Mora of Cuba in his second match in group 8. Finally Curtis Humphery got T&T’s second flawless scores, defeating Guatemala’s Hector Gatica and Honduras’s Miguel Sarmiento in group 12.

 

Shooting:

Roger Daniel grabbed T&T's first medal, winning bronze (175.8) in the Men’s Individual 10m Air Pistol at the El Lencero Police Academy in Xalapa. The 2010’s Gold medalist was hoping to once again grab the top spot but had to settle behind Cuba’s Jorge Grau (201.2) and Maurilio Morales (196.8) of Mexico. Rhodney Allen placed 22nd in the qualifying round with 545pts and first time CAC contestant Clement Marshall 31st 527 points.

 

Kayak:

Satyam Maharaj faced cold temperatures, rain and 20+ knots gust winds, while officials made a mandatory change to protocol from ‘Immediate Rescue' to 'Rescue' without disrupting the competition in the Men’s K1 200m Kayak Final placing 7th in a time of one minute. Cuba (40.7) took home gold, Venezuela (45.8) Silver and Mexico (46.7) Bronze. Women’s K1 200m T&T finalist Keian Huggins finished 6th in 1 minute 11 seconds. Cuba (51.4) Columbia (55.1) and Mexico (55.3) taking home the medals in that order. The team of Sherlon Pierre and Matthew Robinson finished 7th in the Men’s K2 200m Finals in a time of 52 seconds. Cuba (35.9) Venezuela (37.2) and Mexico (37.34) won Gold Silver and Bronze respectfully. The placings may earn T&T a spot in next year’s Panama Games, but still need to be confirmed.

 

Swimming:

Two of the Three McLeod brothers representing T&T had their finals carded for the evening; however it was postponed due to bad weather. They were able to swim in the qualifiers in the morning. David McLeod placed fourth in heat 2 of the Men’s 100m backstroke in 59.29, while older sibling Joshua placed 3rd in 24.47 behind Venezuela (24.18) and Surinam (24.4).

 

Hockey:

Women’s Hockey match against Guyana was postponed as the weather conditions made play hazardous.

 

Football:

Reported 60mph winds played a familiar factor in T&T’s 1-1 draw against Haiti, overcoming several other challenges including many of the team members playing together for the first time and arriving to Mexico on the morning of kick off, T&T drew level in the 51st minute through Patrice Campbell after Haiti’s Roselord Borgella put the Haitians ahead midway in the first half. T&T face host country Mexico next on Wednesday at 3pm, followed by Columbia on Friday, 10am.

 

Volleyball:

Women’s Indoor Volleyball Team lost their 3rd in as many games to Costa Rica 25-19, 25-19, and 25-14. T&T await for the scheduling of their next opponent in the Placement 5-8 (match 16) on Wednesday 19th.

 

Cycling:

Finally, T&T Men’s Team Sprint indoor Cycling of Kwesi Browne, Quincy Alexander and Jude Cordrington, narrowly missed out for the medaling race placing 5th in a time of 45.95 seconds, behind 4th place Cuba’s 45.65. Venezuela and Columbia, the fastest 2 teams of the qualifiers race for gold Nov 17th while the 3rd and 4th teams race for bronze the same day.