Thursday July 16th, Toronto, Canada – Track Cycling and Golf got underway at Pan Am today with Trinidad and Tobago fielding teams in both events. On the track, the men’s team of Njisane Phillips, Jude Codrington and Justin Roberts finished 5th in qualification in the men’s team sprint, just missing out on the chance to compete for the bronze medal. In the omnium cycling competition Varun Maharajh placed 9th in the scratch finals, 8th in the individual pursuit qualification and 5th in the elimination race. The Omnium event consists of six races and takes place over two consecutive days.
Out on the golf course Monifa Sealy, who is currently ranked in the top 120 Women in the world Amateur Golf Rankings, ended the first round in 20th place. Sealy has led the winning T&T golf team at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship for the last three years, and has won the individual title twice. She plans to turn pro following this year’s games. Christina Ferreira who is the 2nd highest ranked woman from Trinidad and Tobago on the World Amateur Golf Ranking sits in 27th place after the first round. Ferreira is a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado where she is a member of the golf team. Over on the men’s side, Talin Rajendranath is currently ranked 16th after the first round of play, while Sachin Kumar is ranked 24th. In the mixed team event featuring all four golfers, Trinidad and Tobago is currently ranked 15th.
Sailors Kelly Ann Arrindell and Andrew Lewis continued to post solid results on the water. Arrindell placed 12th in race eight, 4th in race nine and 8th in race 10. Lewis was 7th in race eight, 9th in race nine and 7th in race 10.
The men’s field hockey team showed great fight to draw their second match against Cuba 2-2. This was a nice recovery following their first round defeat against Argentina. They will next play the Americans who also lost to Argentina (6-0) on Saturday.
In Volleyball the men’s duo of Williams and Whitfield defeated El Salvador in straight sets. They will face Mexico in the quarterfinal qualifying match tomorrow. On the women’s side of the draw, Davidson and Dyette lost in straight sets to Cuba, and will next play a 13th-16th round match against Cayman Islands.
In swimming, Dylan Carter placed 5th in heat 3 of the men’s 100m butterfly and advanced to the B final. Carter opted out of this race to focus on the men’s 50-metre freestyle event tomorrow. Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell who has already achieved qualification for next years Rio 2016 Olympics will also compete in the men’s 50m free event.
The medal hunt for Trinidad and Tobago continues on Friday with more action cycling, swimming, beach volleyball, golf and shooting. The men’s football team is also scheduled to play Paraguay.