Nigel Paul’s Olympic campaign came to an abrupt end at Riocentro Pavilion 6, here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. The Trinidad and Tobago super heavyweight boxer lost by knockout at two minutes, 44 seconds in the opening round of his preliminary bout with Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba.
Paul looked competitive, but left himself too open, and was floored by a powerful straight right. Flat on his face on the canvas, there would be no coming back for the big man.
Women’s shot put finalist Cleopatra Borel was among the flag-waving T&T supporters at the venue. The Red, White and Black party, however, was shortlived.
Meanwhile, T&T’s Felice Aisha Chow closed off her first-ever Olympic campaign with a fourth-place finish in the women’s single sculls D final, at the Lagoa Stadium, yesterday. She was 22nd overall. The 39-year-old rower returned a time of seven minutes, 50.23 seconds.
Five hundred metres into the race, Chow was in third spot with a 1:52.26 split. She dropped to fourth at the halfway mark in 3:50.39, and stayed there till the end.
Paraguay’s Gabriela Mosqueira was the class of the field, battling back from fourth spot at the 500m-mark to first at the finish in 7:44.62. Nigeria’s Chierika Ukogu was second in 7:44.76, with third spot going to Algeria’s Amina Rouba (7:46.55).
Kimberley Brennan was golden in the women’s single sculls, the Australian taking top spot in the A race in a fast 7:21.54. American Genevra Stone snapped up silver in 7:22.92, while bronze was bagged by China’s Jingli Duan in 7:24.13.
T&T sailor Andrew Lewis was 36th in race nine and 32nd in race 10 as the qualifying competition in the men’s laser class event came to an end, at Marina da Gloria. Lewis finished 39th overall with a net score of 324 points. The top 10 sailors will contest the medal race tomorrow.