Friday July 18th, Toronto, Canada– Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell won Trinidad & Tobago’s first medal at this year’s Pan Am Games, swimming to 3rd place and another bronze medal in the men’s 50m free final in a time of 22.17. Fellow swimmer, Dylan Carter also qualified for the men’s A final but was tied with Puerto Rican Erik Risolvato for the final spot. Carter lost the swim off for the final spot in the A final, but comfortably won the men’s B final in a time of 22.39.
On the cycling track, men’s sprint Pan Am record holder Njisane Phillips successfully navigated his 1/8 final and 1/4 final rides and has qualified for tomorrow’s 1/2 final. Compatriot Justin Roberts missed out on qualification for the men’s sprint event. In the omnium cycling competition Varun Maharajh placed 8th in the 1Km time trial finals, 6th in the flying lap and 9th in the points race. His overall rank following the six-race event is 9th.
In Beach Volleyball the women’s duo of Davidson and Dyette earned their first victory of the games, defeating the Cayman Islands in straight sets. They will next play Guatemala on Sunday. Davidson first started playing indoor volleyball in high school and tried out beach volleyball with a close friend and discovered that she liked it. Dyette started playing in 2008 when she graduated from college and thinks there are a lot of positives to take from their performances at the PanAm Games. “We were in a tough pool, but I think we gave a really good account of ourselves.”
Over on the men’s side, Williams and Whitfield lost their quarterfinal qualifying match against Mexico in straight sets. Following the game Williams said, “We’re proud of ourselves and Mexico is a really good team, but the scores don’t necessarily reflect how we played. They had a lot of luck on their side too.”
Out on the golf course Monifa Sealy, ended the second round ranked 15th while Christina Ferreira was ranked 27th. On the men’s side, Talin Rajendranath is currently ranked 27th after the second round of play, while Sachin Kumar is ranked 20th. In the mixed team event featuring all four golfers, Trinidad and Tobago is currently ranked 13th.
On the water sailors Kelly Ann Arrindell and Andrew Lewis continued to show great form. Arrindell placed 3rd in race eleven and 6th in race twelve. Lewis was 10th in race eleven and 3rd in race twelve. Tomorrow they will both compete in the medal races to determine their final position.
Shooters Marlon Moses and former Commonwealth and Pan Am Games medallist Roger Daniel failed to advance in the men’s 50m rifle prone and pistol events.
The medal hunt for Trinidad and Tobago continues tomorrow with more action in field hockey where the men will take on the United States, and the women warriors taking on Mexico.