Philips’s silver adds icing to impressive athletic display

South American Youth Games in Chile
Guyana’s campaign at the South American Youth Games in Chile ended on Sunday with a silver medal in the female 200 metres final, courtesy of rising star Kenisha Philips.

Having won silver in the 100 metres on Saturday, Philips was unable to go one better on Sunday, and in the 200 metre event, had to settle for silver again, behind her rival, Colombia’s Angie Echeverria, who was first in 24.23s.
Philips took the silver in a time of 24.40s ahead of another Colombian, Sharry Quinonez, who claimed bronze in 24.81s.
With Guyana’s boxers being unable to participate in the Games, athletics was always Guyana’s best hopes of medalling, and the track stars did not disappoint. On Saturday, Philips won Guyana’s first medal at the games — in the 100 metres, when she finished a close second to Echeverria in 12.18s. Echeverria won the event in 12.14s.

Jermaine King secured Guyana’s second silver medal — on Saturday in the Boys 100 metres, when he ran his personal best time of 10.963s in a close contest. Paraguay’s Fabrizio Aquino took gold in 10.92s, while Colombian Giano Mosquera was third in a time of 10.966s.
Guyana’s Deshana Skeete also competed on Saturday, and secured Guyana’s only gold medal when she ran the race of her life and clocked her personal best in the Girls 400 Metres.
Cheered on by her country men and women, Skeete clocked her fastest time of 57.28s as she chased down Brazilian Jessica Vitoria De Oliveira Moreira (57.54s) to cross the line and secure gold.
However, Skeete overexerted herself and was unable to compete in the 200 metre event later in the day.
King, who on Saturday ran the fastest qualifying time in the boys 200 metre event, could not repeat that performance and narrowly missed out on a podium spot when he finished fourth in the race on Sunday.
The multi-talented athlete ran a time of 22.11s as Brazilian Lucas Vilar won the event in 22.02s while Sebastian Berrueco (Colombia) was second and Gian Mosquera, also from Colombia, finished third.
Annalisa Barclay was also in action for Guyana in the girls long jump, but finished fifth in the event, which was won by Brazil’s Lissandra Campos, who recorded a jump of 5.8 metres.
Guyana was also represented in badminton and table tennis, with Priyanna Ramdhani doing well to reach the quarter-final stage in the Badminton Girls Single category, while her male compatriot, Tyrese Jeffrey, was knocked out in the opening stages.
Miguel Wong and Nickolus Romain were both early round casualties as well, in the male table tennis competition.
In some controversy, young flyweight boxer Keevin Allicock and Christopher Moore were ineligible to participate, as the Games Committee ruled them out due to age stipulation changes made. (Michelangelo Jacobus)