T&T’s campaign at the inaugural Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia got off to a very low-key start on Thursday morning.
This was after Josiah Clarke failed to face the starter in the first of two men’s K1 1,000-metre men’s canoe sprints at Lake Calima.
On Friday at the same Lake Calima, it will be the turn of triathlete Jean-Marc Granderson in the individual men’s race.
T&T will also be represented today in cycling, boxing, and swimming.
In the men’s team sprint at the Alcides Nieto Patino Velodrome, Pista, the T&T team of Michael Ackee, Tariq Woods, and Zion Pulido will aim for the gold medal from 12.41 pm.
They will face an uphill battle for a podium finish as regional powerhouses Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela have all registered teams along with Mexico. The finals will pedal off from 6.20 pm.
Speaking earlier this week with Guardian Media Sports, the junior cycling team coach Gregory Dandrade said he expects medals but could not say which.
Pulido was considered the fastest starter at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championship in June in Lima, Peru earlier this year, and will combine with newcomers to international cycling, Ackee and Woods.
Dandrade said his team will be among the top four teams at the Games.
"Of course Colombia, the home team, will be the strongest but I am expecting medals. We have a chance like anyone else," Dandrade said.
The T&T will spring into action on Friday with the team sprint and Pulido, the team captain who impressed in the starting position in June, will make way for Ackee as Dandrade tries to change things up a bit.
Dandrade said the other two positions for the second and third legs, will be selected when he gets there.
Apart from the team sprint, the T&T riders will also contest the keirin and the match sprints, while Miami-based Sylese Christian will also compete in the keirin and match sprints, later on at the Games.
This country’s lone boxer, Juan Rodriguez, is also set to enter the ring in the men’s 52kg preliminary round at the Luis Ignacio Alvarez Arena, Cancha.
T&T athletes will be busiest at the Hernando Botero O’Byrne Swimming Pool, in Cali with the USA-based trio of Graham Chatoor, Gabriela Donahue, and Kael Yorke all in the water.
A senior at the New York University, Chatoor will lead off T&T’s medal quest in the pool in the men’s 400 metres freestyle while University of Nebraska’s Donahue faces the starter in the women's 100m breaststroke before University of Indianapolis ace, Yorke who has been in scintillating form so far this season competes in the men's 200m butterfly.
Pulido and swimmer Ornella Walker and was set to walk side-by-side to carry the T&T flag for the inaugural Under-23 event last (Thursday) night.
Chef De Mission, Diane Henderson selected the two athletes following the opening ceremony requirements for the Games. Henderson said that she is confident that both Zion and Ornella would have carried the flag with dignity and pride. She also said that this will be an opportunity that would impact the both athletes and their journey throughout their sporting career. These two athletes will lead the team by flying the flag high for Trinidad and Tobago.
Walker, currently a student of the Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute, represented T&T at Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (CISC), Central American and Caribbean Swimming Federation (CCCAN) and Carifta Games. She will also compete in the and 200m backstroke events at the National Sporting Center in Cali, Colombia.
T&T is also being represented at the Games in athletics, 3x3 basketball and weightlifting.