T&T women beach volleyballers Rheeza Grant and Malika Davidson did as they promised and improved to earn the right to play for 13th spot after downing US Virgin Islands (USVI), 2-0, at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru on Saturday.
"Today was pretty good. We played confidence and I guess we gelled more together today (yesterday) than all the other days being here and our bodies were a little bit more acclimatized to the weather," said Grant, still rueing over the missed opportunity to defeat Costa Rica on Friday, falling to a 2-0 loss after leading for much of the match.
"We were so, so happy about the win. More wins to come over time," said Grant. "The game yesterday (Friday) we were really emotional because we wanted to win it so badly even if we had to go the third set.
"We were really pushing really hard and I guess the team that had the most experience won on that day because the team we played had more experience than us but not denying that fact, we gave it our all."
In their 13th-16th placement playoff match at the Beach Volleyball Stadium, the local duo eliminated much of the errors that had plagued them during the preliminary round which saw them placed last in their pool.
However, the national volleyballers bounced back well to win in straight sets 21-8, 21-10, to play for 13th spot against El Salvador.
"We are confident that we will bring home that wins. El Salvador is a more defensive team than us and they have a lot more experience than us but we are going to play with heart, passion and soul and at the end of the day, we are going to put our best foot forward and we know that with that, we can win the game."
T&T men's team of Marlon Phillip and Daynte Stewart placed 15th after defeating Peru, 2-0 (21-19, 21-16).
Earlier, the local pair lost to Costa Rica 1-2 (21-19, 16-21, 12-15).
Shooting
Marsha Bullen-Jones placed 25th in the women's 10m air pistol with a total of 533 in the qualification round. She shot 86 in the opening series, then followed up with 91 before registering 86, 91, 87 and 92 in the remaining series but did not advance as only the top eight shooters progress to the final.
Rugby
It was another tough day for T&T rugby women as they succumbed to two heavy defeats in final preliminary matches.
In the morning session, the local unit led by captain Nicholette Pantor went under to Columbia, 38-10 at the
Some four hours later, T&T, who lost its opening match 55-0 to the USA the day before, returned to the field to face off against Argentina but once again outplayed, losing by another huge margin, 46-0.
Today though, the national rugby team will seek to rebound from this winless run in its matchup versus the host country Peru in the fifth to eighth placement playoff match from 10.10 am (T&T time).
Boxing
Nigel Paul lost out to Camilo Codazzi in their quarterfinal bout in the men's super heavyweight (91+kg) class.
The Columbian got the nod from the judges over the T&T boxer 5-0 at the Miguel Grau Coliseum.
Today, T&T's Tyron Thomas gets his chance in the ring against Rohan Polanco from the Dominican Republic.
"It did not go the way we planned. It was always going to be a hard bout for us, having lost twice to this guy before but we are remain focus no on Qualification to the 2020 Olympic games," said coach Reynold Cox.
"In the bout, I think Paul could have done more he needs to believe in his technique more to overcome in these tough bouts.
Canoe sprint
Matthew Robinson was unfortunately eliminated in the men's kayak singles 1,000m after placing eighth and last in heat one.
Competing at the Albufera Medio Mundo, he crossed eighth with a time of four minutes and 33.159 seconds.
Later, Robinson teamed up with brother Nicholas and progressed to semifinals in the men's kayak double 1,000m but that is far as they reached after placing last of the seven teams with 4:17.392.
Earlier In the heat one, the pair advanced with the slowest time of 4:12.806 in placing sixth to move on.
Today Nicholas will compete out of lane two as he goes for glory in the men's 200m kayak singles from 11.50 am.