T&T men and women beach volleyball teams of Daynte Stewart and Marlon Phillip, and Rheeza Grant and Malika Davidson were defeated in straight sets in their opening Pool B match on the first day of competition at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games at the Beach Volleyball Court, in Peru on Wednesday.
The local women's team of Grant and Davidson were first in action against USA's Karissa Cook and Jace Pardon, with the latter easing to victory 21-9, 21-8 in 19 minutes.
On Thursday, the T&T women will play their second match in the four-team round-robin pool against Colombians Yuly Ayala and Diana Rios from 12.30pm.
The Colombians were also losers in their opener to Costa Ricans Marcela Araya and Valerina Valenciano, 15-21, 14-21.
Cook and Pardon will clash with Araya and Valenciano in a battle of first-day winners also from 12.30 pm today while on Friday, Grant and Davidson meet Araya and Valenciano from 9.50am, and Cook and Pardon face Ayala and Rios.
Stewart and Phillip also found the going tough in their Pan American Games debut, losing to Argentines Nicolas Capogrosso and Julian Azaad, 15-21, 7-21 while USA's Ian Satterfield and Mark Burik overwhelmed El Salvadoreans David Vargas and Carlos Escobar, 21-12, 21-10.
Also, on Thursday, Stewart and Phillip faces Satterfield and Burik while Vargas and Escobar plays Capogrosso and Azaad both at 2.10pm before round-robin play ends tomorrow (Friday) with Stewart and Phillip battling Continental rivals, Vargas and Escobar, and Satterfield and Burik come up against Capogrosso and Azaad from 11.30am.
Four years ago in Toronto, Canada, T&T registered its most successful showing ever at the Pan American Games
with three gold medals, three silver and two bronze for eighth medals overall, bettering the performances of the 1967 (Winnipeg), 1971 (Cali) and 2003 (Santo Domingo) national teams, which each managed seven.