BARRY FORDE is out of the Commonwealth Games.
And what little medal hopes Barbados had might’ve just left with him.
The indifferent form that has plagued this country’s top-ranked cyclist came to light at the Delhi Games, after Forde failed to advance past the opening round of the keirin during today’s action on the track.
Without world champion sprint hurdler Ryan Brathwaite and Olympic swimmer Bradley Alley, several of Barbados’ medal hopes rested on the legs of the world-rated 34-year-old cyclist.
But for the second successive major meet, Forde left without a place on the podium, having finished third in Heat 2 of the opening round before bouncing out of the repechage as well.
This was weeks after the UCI rated the one-time Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) gold medallist eighth in the world in the keirin, following a fourth-placed finish in the keirin at July’s CAC Games.
The last time Forde medalled was five months ago, when he grabbed a silver in the keirin at the Pan American Cycling Championships.
He didn’t even get a chance to atone for his woes in yesterday’s match sprint either, as his management team pulled him out of the event over concerns of inadequate rest time.
“It was obviously disappointing for us to see Barry knocked out, as he was one of our main medal hopes,” said Barbados chef de mission Cammie Burke, by telephone link-up from Delhi yesterday.
“There’s still hope with Stephen [Headley] and Shakera [Reece] on the track but we will definitely be turning our hopes to Anderson Emmanuel repeating or doing better in the boxing.”
Forde’s possible successor, Darren Matthews, provided some sort of solace on the track after coming a credible 14th out of 24 cyclists in the 40-km points race final.
It was the 19-year-old’s first international points race in an impressive Commonwealth Games debut and got huge raves Burke.
“I thought Darren’s performance was great, especially considering this was only his first Commonwealth Games as a teenager,” he remarked.
Headley and Reece did provide hope for possible medals in athletics after the former reached the semi-finals of the 100 metres sprint, while Reece made it out of the opening rounds of that same event.
Running in Heat 3, Headley finished third in 10.56 seconds before lowering that time to 10.40 in the second round while coming fourth in the third of four heats.
Reece also came third in her opening round having posted 11.77 seconds in Heat 3.
Cobia Breedy wasn’t so fortunate in the ring, though, going down 12-1 on points to Kenya’s Joseph Ndungu in his opening 60-kg lightweight bout.
In shooting, Bernard Chase (15th) and Calvert Herbert (21st) finished down the field in the men’s singles 50-metre pistol after accumulating 522 and 492 points, respectively.
After successive 5-0 defeats, Barbados finally recorded their first team victory in badminton when they upended Kenya 4-1 yesterday.
Nicholas Reifer lost 25-23, 21-16 to Victor Odera Munga before rebounding to win both the men’s and mixed doubles after pairing with Dakeil Thorpe and Mariama Eastmond, respectively.
Shari Watson won her singles encounter against Mercy Mewthye Joseph 21-4, 16-21, 21-11 and also accounted for Barbados’ other victory in the women doubles with Eastmond.
