T&T men overcome Venezuela
The Trinidad and Tobago men’s rugby sevens team grabbed bronze last night, on the penultimate day of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Veracruz, Mexico.
In a fiercely competitive match, T&T surged from behind to defeat Venezuela 26-24 and take the bronze medal.
T&T’s Agboola Silverton was the star player in the match with 20 points from four tries, while Keishon Walker, instrumental in getting them to the bronze medal playoff, notched four points from two conversions. Christopher Hudson was the final scorer for T&T (two points from one try).
The T&T squad was down 19-14 at half time but a superior defensive display led to them outscoring the South Americans 12-5 in the final half.
Earlier, T&T lost their semi-final match against Colombia 33-12 with Keishon Walker scoring seven points from one try and one conversion while teammate James Phillip added five points from one try.
They were scheduled to play Venezuela in the bronze medal match.
In their quarter-final game, the T&T men whipped the Cayman Islands 24-0, with David Gokool leading the scoring with 10 points from his two tries, while Keishon Walker had a try and a conversion for seven points, with Daniel Scott contributing five points (one try) and Aasan Lewis adding two points with a conversion.
T&T’s women were also victorious over the Cayman Islands, winning their preliminary match 20-5. Nicholette Panthor had two tries with Fayola Jack and Kanisha Vincent adding one apiece, while Shenel Gall had a try for the losers. They were subsequently beaten 39-0 by Venezuela in their next round robin match but beat the Caymans again 37-0 to take fifth spot.
Meanwhile, T&T’s men’s beach volley team of Fabien Whitfield and Daneil Williams were beaten two sets to one--17-21, 21-11, 14-16--by Jamaica’s Christopher Walters and Ryck McKenzte in their 9th-12th placement playoff match.
Whitfield finished the match with 14 kills and one ace, while Williams had 13 kills and three aces. McKenzte and Walters had 13 kills each with the former serving five aces and the latter, one. T&T was scheduled to face Guatemala at 7.00 p.m last night to decide the eleventh and twelfth places.
In completion among the women, T&T’s Nancy Joseph and Ayanna Dyette suffered a 2-0 defeat, losing 19-21, 11-21, to Anna Ramirez and Blanca Recinos of Guatemala in their 5th-8th playoff match. Dyette had eight kills and four aces, with seven kills and an ace coming from Joseph while Ramirez and Recinos both had 12 kills with the latter serving up two aces.
In squash, T&T’s men lost 2-0 against El Salvador for fifth to eighth place spots. T&T’s Kale Wilson battled but lost out to Guatemala’s Israel Abrego 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 9-11) while the experienced Colin Ramasra was overhelmed by El Salvador’s Jose Molina in straight sets (7-11, 10-12, 6-11).
And in water polo, the T&T men were set to oppose Puerto Rico in the fifth and sixth place playoff after press time.