Guyana experience mixed fortunes as CAC Games continue

Scores of Guyanese athletes began their Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games campaign last week when they opened in Barranquilla, Colombia on July 19. After representing their homeland well in the opening ceremony on Thursday, the athletes got down to business early on Friday morning in the South American nation.

In the swimming pool, Guyana had two representatives who were off to a flying start. Andrew Fowler clocked 55.01s in his 100-metre freestyle event while Jamila Sanmoogan clocked 29.76s in the female 50m butterfly event. Despite not being able to advance to the next round in their respective races, both athletes registered their personal best times to the delight of their Coach, Sean Baksh. The local Coach noted that their achievements are testament to their preparation and race day efforts at the Games. The swimmers will hit the pool again on July 25.
Guyana’s table tennis players also got in on the action early, playing both doubles and singles matches.
The power team of Natalie Cummings, Chelsea Edghill and Trenace Lowe lost to Cuba 0-3 and to El Salvador 0-3 but tasted victory when they beat Barbados 3-0. The men’s team also got off to a rough start with a 0-3 loss to Cuba.

In the individual match-ups, Edghill lost to Mabelyn Enriquez of Guatemala 1-3, but made a 3-0 comeback on Linda Partap of Trinidad and Tobago. Trenace Lowe had the best outing of all the females with three wins against number five seed Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico, Daniely Rios of Puerto Rico and Jazel Griffith of Barbados (3-0).
On the men’s side, Shemar Britton lost to Brian Afanador of Puerto Rico 0-3, but made a complete flip with a 3-0 win over Jose Urbina of Honduras. Nigel Bryan followed in similar fashion with a 1-3 loss to Emil Santos of the Dominican Republic and a 3-1 win over Oliver Mendoza of El Salvador.
Christopher Franklyn, Britton, Lowe, Edghill and Bryan have all advanced from the group stage to the knockout round.
In the world of squash, Guyana’s top seeded men’s player, Sunil Seth began his CAC bid with a thrilling win against David Gonzalez of Panama. The young and talented Jason-Ray Khalil also began on a good note defeating Nku Patrick of Trinidad and Tobago. However, both players were left with a bitter taste after losing out to the Salazar twins of Mexico. Arturo and Cesar Salazar both beat the Guyanese men 0-3.
In men’s doubles, the same pair managed to defeat the St Vincent and the Grenadines duo of Jason Doyle and Othneil Bailey 2-0.
In the women’s draw, Mary Fung-a-Fat beat Charlotte Knaggs of Trinidad and Tobago in her opening match, but ran into the number one seed, Samantha Teran the following day and lost 0-3. Taylor Fernandes, who just made the move from the junior ranks to senior competition, lost a hard-fought match to Amanda Haywood of Barbados 2-3.
The female hockey team were not so lucky in their first encounter, but the male have avenged their female counterparts’ loss. In the men’s competition, the Guyanese men coincidentally faced off against the Dominican Republic. The Dominicans stunned the confident Guyanese just two minutes into the match when Francisco Garcia deflected in a pass from the right after the Dominicans capitalised on a Guyanese defensive mix-up deep in their scoring circle. The game wore on with the Guyanese enjoying greater possession, but the Dominicans defending stoically until the 39th minute when Aroydy Branford converted a penalty stroke.
The game grew progressively more physical as the Dominicans resorted to physical play to neutralise the skilful Guyanese forwards but in the 49th and 50th minutes, Guyana managed to convert two penalty corners through Marvin Dannet and a bullet of a shot from the outstanding Jamarj Assanah. Guyana would go on to a 3-1 victory at full time.