BRILLIANT BRADLEY: Barbados' CAC gold medal haul went to six when Bradley Ally raced away with his third gold, Saturday night.

by MIKE KING

SHAWN TERRY-COX, the only Barbadian to win a gold medal at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador four years ago, has reached the medal round of this year's games in Colombia.

Cox, 31, the only boxer from the English-speaking Caribbean who qualified for the Sydney Olympics, won his opening light-heavyweight bout handsomely, brushing aside Trinidad and Tobago's Denzil Salazar 14-1 on points.

That victory takes him into the semi-finals tomorrow night and assures him of at least a bronze medal. If he wins, he will fight for the gold medal.

Anderson Emmanuel, who saved Barbados from a total shutout of medals at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in March, will make his first appearance in the ring tomorrow night in the heavyweight division.

Barbados extended their medal tally to 13 – six gold, one silver, six bronze – with United States-based Bradley Ally collecting his third gold on Saturday night when he broke the Games record in the 200 metres individual medley (IM). He clocked two minutes, 02.98 seconds, shattering the previous mark by almost three full seconds.

Shaune Fraser of the Cayman Islands and Bahamian Jeremy Knowles tied for second to each collect silver and Trinidad and Tobago's Nicky Bovell placed fourth.

Ally then swam with Andrei Cross, Terrence Haynes and triple gold medallist Nicky Neckles to register a time of 3:48.65 for bronze in the men's 4X100-metre medley relay that Venezuela won in 3:45.98, ahead of Mexico (3:46.12).

It has been a very satisfying meet for the national squash team. They collected their third medal when the women took bronze in the team competition. They got into the medal round by beating Guatemala 3-0 before losing 0-3 to Mexico in the semi-finals.

The men's team of Gavin Cumberbatch, Shawn Simpson and Mark Sealy defeated Guyana 2-1 and then went down by a similar scoreline to Guatemala in a hard-fought contest. Sealy, playing at No. 3, was the only winner against Guatemala. Cumberbatch, the No. 1, lost in four games and Simpson, the No. 2, was nosed out in an enthralling match that lasted 82 minutes.

The versatile Simpson, the first man to play two sports for Barbados at the same games, will join the volleyball team on court for their opening match against Colombia tonight.

In women's basketball, the national team took fourth after losing 64-67 in a nerve-jangling third place play-off against Colombia. Captain Wanda Agard-Belgrave poured in 24 points, Toni Atherley 19 and Astrid Alleyne 13.

Manager June Caddle on telephone link-up from Colombia, confirmed that track and field competition would start tomorrow. It means sprinters Andrew Hinds and Jade Bailey along with hurdler Stephen Jones, will be in action. Hinds is nursing an injury, but it is hoped he will be fit to race in the 100 metres.

National record-holder in the javelin, Justin Cummins, is expected to be in action tomorrow while Thursday will mark the first appearance of high-jumpers Damon Thompson and Henderson Dottin, both of whom competed in El Salvador in 2002.

The table tennis side that includes Robert Roberts and the Farley brothers Trevor and Kevin, will serve off today while the judo team that comprises schoolboys Levar Arthur and Kyle Maxwell are expected to be on the mat tomorrow.

In beach volleyball, the men were ninth and the women, beaten in five out of six games, finished a disappointing 12th out of 13 teams.