The T&T men’s 4x100m freestyle relay quartet of Nikoli Blackman, Zarek Wilson, Zachary Anthony and Johannn-Matthew Matomoro combined to secure a bronze medal to open this country’s medal account at the second edition of the Junior Pan American Games at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday night.
The 20-year-old Blackman of the University of Tennessee swam the lead off leg for T&T and clocked 49.18 seconds after a split of 23.26 to put his team in medal contention in the third spot, which Wilson of the University of Alabama, maintained at the end of the second leg with T&T’s 1:39.42 only behind Brazil (1:38.66) and Mexico (1:39.25), respectively.
Anthony, now at the University of Indianapolis, then dug deep to put T&T into the second spot in 2:29.67, just behind the Brazilians (2:28.94) as Mexico slipped to third in 2:30.78.
However, on the final leg Matamoro, who also attends the University of Indianapolis, was caught by Venezuelan Emil Perez who moved his team from fourth into the silver medal spot with a time of three minutes, 20.38 with T&T dropping back into third in three minutes, 20.65 while Brazil with Pedro Sansone on the final took the gold medal in a new Games record of 3:18.36.
The medal by the T&T swimmers is only this country’s third overall at the Junior Pan American Games, following Kelsey Daniel’s silver in the men’s long jump and Tyriq Horsford, a bronze in the men’s javelin four years ago in Cali, Colombia, at the inaugural Junior Pan Am Games.
Earlier on in the morning session, the T&T quartet combined for what was a new Junior Pan American record time of 3:26.96, with Argentina second in 3:27.19, and Bahamas, third in 3:27.33.
However, Venezuela improved on that record soon after when they won the second heat in 3:23.88, followed by Mexico (3:23.96) and Brazil (3:24.09).
Anthony also competed in the men’s 200m butterfly heats, but was sixth in heat two in 2:08.88 and failed to advance to the A or B final.
Today, Blackman lines up in heat three of the men’s 200m freestyle heats, while Wilson contests heat three of the 100m butterfly and Matamoro, heat four of the 100m butterfly and among the women, Zuri Ferguson goes after a place in the final of the women’s 200m backstroke in heat one.
On Saturday night, the USA-based Ferguson was T&T’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Games, which took place at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium.
At the National Archery Centre, T&T’s Cam’ron Dinnoo was the first T&T athlete in action yesterday when he contested the men’s individual recurve ranking round and ended in the 24th position from a field of 25 competitors with a tally of 503 points, 154 behind the table-topper Nanuq Herzog Hamel and today will come up against Ecuadorean Juan Pablo Peralta Alvarez in the round-of-16.
At the same time at the SND Stadium, T’Shelle Barnes went under to Venezuela’s Mariangel Garcia 8-21, 9-21 and Amara Urquhart was ousted by Jamaican Breanna Bisnott 13-21, 20-22 in the women’s singles round-of-32 while in the men’s singles round-of-32 Reese Marcano put up a strong challenge in his 17-21, 20-22 defeat at the hands of Mexico’s Nestor Gonzalez.
In the mixed doubles last-32, Urquhart and Marcano were humbled by Mexicans Gonzalez and Vanesa Garcia, 16-21, 16-21
At the National Hockey Centre, the T&T junior men’s hockey team suffered a 4-1 loss to Chile in their Group B opener, with Nicholas Siu Butt netting the lone goal for the “Calypso Stickmen” in the third period.
For the South Americans, Tomas Hasson scored a pair of goals and Gaspar Fosalba and Javier Vargas one each in the win, while Mexico edged Canada 4-3 in the other match in the group.
The T&T hockey men will look to bounce back quickly as they face Mexico in their next group stage match Tuesday at 9.30 am.
Despite yesterday’s loss, head coach Glen Francis praised the squad’s work rate and commitment, noting that the experience gained from their opening match will be invaluable moving forward in the tournament.
Monday, national tennis player Zachary Byng is also expected to serve off his campaign with play in the men’s round-of-32 singles.
T&T is being represented by 74 athletes across 13 sporting disciplines – archery, badminton, 3x3 basketball, cycling, golf, hockey, rugby, sailing, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field and triathlon.
T&T athletes Jr Pan American Games schedule:
Swimming (Aug 10-14), Archery (Aug 10-12), Badminton (Aug 10-13), Road Cycling (Aug 10, 17), Track Cycling (Aug 12-15), 3X3 Basketball (15-17), Golf (Aug 19-23), Hockey (Aug 10-19), Rugby (Aug 16-17), Table Tennis (16-21), Tennis (Aug 11-16), Track and Field (Aug 18-22) and Triathlon (Aug 20, 22).
