BARBADOS SQUASH is on the hunt again.Three days after picking up their first ever individual Central American and Caribbean Games medal, both the men’s and women’s squads were on the prowl for more glory when the team competition continued yesterday in Bogota, Colombia.The male contingent qualified for the quarter-finals well before their final group encounter against the hosts late last night, after earning successive 2-1 victories over the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.And that success came without major contribution from their top seed, former Caribbean champ Shawn Simpson, who lost both of his matches.But the Cumberbatch brothers, Bryant and Gavin, pulled through in respective matches to see Barbados come from behind in those group games.Led by recently crowned singles silver medallist Karen Meakins, their women counterparts got off to a similarly encouraging start, having swept rivals and reigning regional queens Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.Up to press time, the ladies hadn’t completed the remaining matches against Mexico and El Salvador.
Slow day for BarbadosIt was a slow day otherwise for the men and women in the ultramarine and blue, as Barbados failed to increase their medal tally from five – two gold, two silver and one bronze – over in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.The highlight of Barbados’ day came on the turf, as the men’s hockey team avenged the women’s loss to Trinidad on Thursday, by humiliating Panama 12-0.But it proved to be the last team success Barbados would enjoy, with the female volleyballers ending their woeful campaign without a single win, having lost their fifth straight decision in as many contest after a discouraging 19-25, 21-25, 20-25 straight sets defeat at the hands of Nicaragua.When the sport shifted to the beach, Anthazia Mason and Mona Crawford went down in similar fashion to the Costa Rican pair of Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro 9-21, 16-21.
Going tough in poolWith double gold medallist Bradley Ally and Nicky Neckles out of action yesterday, the going was tough in the pool, with none of the Bajan “golden girls” reaching their respective finals.Lee-Ann Rose was the closest to advancing to a medal swim, finishing two spots away from making the final of the women’s 200 metre backstroke, having come fifth in Heat 3 with 2:27.78.Deandre Small came eighth in Heat 3 of the women’s 50-metre breaststroke with 36.09, finishing 20th overall, while Zabrina Holder (2:25.03) and Amara Gibbs (2:27.27) also failed in their quest to reach the final of the 200-metre butterfly, after placing tenth and 12th, respectively.Cycling fared a bit better as teenage prodigy Darren Matthews got Barbados’ riders off to an encouraging start to the cycling programme when he came sixth in the scratch race.Venezuelan Richard Ochoa won the event ahead of the second-placed Mario Contreras of Mexico and the Dominican Republic’s Euris Vidal, who captured the bronze. Former CAC gold medallist Barry Forde and one-time European junior match sprint and keirin champion Christian Lyte were expected to head the country’s charge in the flying 200 metres later in the day, but persistent rains forced the postponement of that event.
