T&T’s beach volleyball team of Elki Phillip and Ayanna Dyette was unsuccessful in their second match at the Pan American Games which is being held in Guadelajara, Mexico. The local duo went down to Cubans Nirian and Onayami Sinal in two sets 12-21, 14-21 in their Pool F match at the Beach Volleyball Stadium in Jalisco. In their opening match they were beaten 5-21, 16-21 by world champion duo Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil. In the Taekwondo event, T&T’s Leon Hypolite was pounded by Venezuelan Carlos Vasquez in the Men’s Under 80kg Division. He went down 15-3. In yachting, T&T’s Andrew Lewis finished 11th in laser race one. He sailed in behind eventual winners Saladin Aguayo of the Dominican Republic. In second place was Bruno Da Silva from Brazil and third was Julio Alsogaray of Argentina.
After three days of action in the 16th edition of the event, T&T has won one medal thanks to top local shooter Roger Danie, who took silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol final on Sunday. Today, the “First Citizens Sportsman of the Year” for 2010, will be aiming for another medal when he competes in the Men’s 50m Air Pistol event at the Pan American Games Polygon in Jalisco. Another local athlete Robert John Auerbach will see action in the Men’s Trap qualification.
Also, Dexter St Louis and his step-daughter Rheann Chung will represent T&T in their respective table-tennis events. St Louis, who is ranked 15th, will first play Juan Acosta (32) from Peru then Paraguay’s Marcelo Aquirre (7) in the Men’s singles while 21st ranked Chung will have three matches in the Women singles against American Ariel Hsing (3) in her first match, Analdy Lopez (38) of Guatemala and finally Venezuela’s Ruaida Ezzeddine (17). Beach volleyballers Phillip/Dyette will take on Ariana Vilela/Katherine Chila of Ecuador in their final preliminary round match. Andrew Lewis returns today, to compete in the two Laser races in the Sailing event. At the Panam Velodrome, T&T cyclist Njisane Phillip will look to advance out of the qualification round in the Men’s Sprint event.
-Rachel Thompson-King
Source: www.guardian.co.tt
Rheann Chung representing Trinidad and Tobago started out with a victory
After the firtst seven clashes in Pan American Taekwondo of the men's division, in the -79kg category, we already know the athletes competing in the quarters finals.
October 14 - Neither the security fears, construction delays nor the tail end of Hurricane Jova that has caused heavy rainfall across Guadalajara over the past week could prevent the Mexican city from hosting a quite spectacular Opening Ceremony for the 2011 Pan American Games here at the 50,000 capacity Omnilife Stadium.
Argentina were the first to complete a lap of the stadium but the loudest cheer was unsurprisingly reserved for hosts Mexico who received a giant ovation that simply rocked the stadium.
October 15 - Brazil are fielding one of their strongest contingencies ever for the Pan American Games, which opened here last night, as a direct reflection of the country's Ministry of Sports development plan to turn them into a leading sporting power by the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Key examples of the success of the programme have seen Athlete Scholarship recipient Fabiana Beltrame (pictured), the rower who will compete in the Pan American Games, take gold for Brazil in September at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled in Slovenia in the single scull event.