Friday, March 29, 2024

Medal man

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ANDERSON EMMANUEL has become the saving grace of yet another Barbados touring  party.
The former Commonwealth Games medallist is assured of at least a bronze, having reached the semi-final round of the Pan American Games’ 91-kilo boxing category by beating hometown boy Mario Heredia 24-17 on points in their heavyweight bout yesterday in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Emmanuel trailed 4-10 at the end of the first round, but responded with a 10-3 second round before sealing the deal in the third by outscoring the Mexican 10-4.
It could be the second time in five years that Emmanuel has secured the country’s only piece of hardware at a major event following his Commonwealth Games bronze medal in Melbourne, Australia.
Barbadian tennis fell just short of capturing its first ever piece of Pan American Games history after Haydn Lewis and Darian King lost their men’s doubles bronze medal match 7-6 (9), 2-6, [7-10] in a third set super tiebreak on Saturday at the Telcel Complex.
Playing the fourth-seeded pair of Nicholas Monroe and Greg Ouellette, the overseas-based pros lost a gruelling one-and-a-half hour contest after winning just one point off the Americans’ serve in that super tiebreak.
This was after the Bajan duo broke Monroe in just their opponents’ third service game of the match before consolidating for a quick 5-2 lead in the opening set.
But the Americans broke back in the ninth game, laying waste to King’s serve to put the contest back on serve, trailing 5-4 prior to forcing a first-set tiebreak.
Lewis and King went on to win that gruelling back-and-forth affair, only to get broken twice in the ensuing second set on the way to a 6-2 drubbing.
The defeat proved the unfortunate end to a stirring semi-finals run that saw the unheralded Bajans stun the third-seeded Mexican pair of Santiago Gonzalez and Daniel Garza before shocking Chileans Nicolas Massu and Jorge Aguilar in the quarters.
And the Mexican fans more than showed their appreciation for the impressive tournament performance, sticking around 15 minutes after the contest to get King’s and Lewis’ autographs.
Jason Wilson also had an encouraging showing yesterday after finishing the men’s triathlon seventh in one hour, 50 minutes and nine      seconds.
Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil won in 1.48:02, with American Manuel Huerta (1:48.09) and Brent McMahon (1.48:23) of Canada grabbing the silver and bronze medals respectively.
In hockey, pre-tournament women’s favourites Argentina handed Barbados one of their most lopsided losses in history following a 19-0 Group A drubbing at the Pan Am Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Agustina Garcia had a beaver-trick, while Luciana Aymar and Carla Rebecchi added three goals apiece as the aquamarine and gold slumped to their second double-digit defeat in three games. (JM)

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