The Guyanese contingent at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla, Colombia grew a little today, after the national rugby team “The Green Machine” and the track and field athletes departed Guyana on Wednesday morning.
The rugby team were all smiles before leaving for Barranquilla, Colombia
The 14-member rugby team (inclusive of Manager and Coach) and a six-member athletics team assembled at Camp Ayanganna before they left for the airport. At that meeting, both teams seemed to be in high spirits and that reflected in the remarks made by the coaches.
Speaking with the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) President and Coach, Peter Green, Guyana Times Sport learnt the decision was made to expose some of the younger rugby players in this competition, as the exposure will do well for them and the senior players are in need of rest.
Guyana’s javelin record holder Leslain Baird and Athletics Coach Sham Johnny before their departure
“From playing in tournaments before they know what to do, but we using this opportunity now to expose the youngsters, because as you can see, we have too many tournaments coming up, so I have to rest some of the senior players for the Americas challenge,” he stated.
Despite being fairly new to international competition, Green is confident that his team will be successful. “There’s one thing we’re going for, we put our frustration behind and take it out on the opposition; we’re not going there just to be part of the crowd, we’re going there to win,” the President declared.
The two teams will join the table tennis, squash, cycling, boxing, field hockey, swimming and taekwondo teams that are already competing.
Over in Barranquilla, the local swimmers took to the pool for the last time. Copping sixth place in her heat, Jamila Sanmoogan clocked 28.72s in the 50-metre freestyle. Competing in the men’s 50m freestyle was Andrew Fowler, who clocked 24.66s.
On the squash courts, the male team of Sunil Seth, Nyron Joseph and Jason-Ray Khalil were locked in a severe battle with Clive Walters, Bruce Burrowes, and Christopher Binnie of Jamaica. However, the Jamaicans barely edged past the Guyanese to clinch victory 2-1.
However, the female team of Mary Fung-A-Fat, Ashley Khalil and Taylor Fernandes suffered a crushing 3-0 loss to Catalina Pelaez, Maria Tovar Perez and Laura Tovar Perez of Colombia.
