Source: www.trinidadexpress.com By Kwame Laurence in New Delhi
Roger Daniel just missed out on a third trip to a Commonwealth Games rostrum when he finished fourth in the men's 10 metres air pistol singles event, at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, here in New Delhi, India, yesterday.
The Trinidad and Tobago shooter finished fourth with a score of 673.1, a mere 0.9 short of the 674 total posted by bronze medallist Daniel Repacholi, of Australia. India's Omkar Singh grabbed gold with a score of 681.8, while silver went to Singapore's Bin Gai (676.2).
At the end of the qualification round, Daniel was third with 577, two more than Repacholi. Singh finished first, scoring 584 to equal the Games record, while Gai totalled 580 for second spot.
The other T&T shooter, Rhodney Allen was 14th with a score of 563.
Repacholi was the best of the eight shooters in the final, the Australian outscoring Daniel 99 to 96.1 to edge into third position.
At the 2006 Games, Daniel bagged bronze in the 50m pistol singles. And on Tuesday, he teamed up with Allen for third spot in the 50m pistol pairs event. Yesterday, bronze number three was snatched from the T&T soldier's grasp.
Daniel and Allen are listed for action today in the men's 25m centrefire pistol pairs. And Robert Auerbach will be on show in stage one of the men's singles trap.
Njisane Phillip, Christopher Sellier and Thireef Smart combined for fifth spot in the men's team sprint, at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, yesterday, the final day of track cycling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The T&T team clocked 47.391 seconds in the qualifying event to trail Australia (44.488), New Zealand (44.583), Malaysia (45.378) and Scotland (46.724).
Australia went on to claim gold in a Games record 43.772, beating New Zealand (44.239) into second spot. In the bronze medal race, Malaysia (45.040) defeated Scotland (46.273).
Emile Abraham completed a little more than half of the scratch race final. With 38 laps to go in the 20-kilometre event, the T&T cyclist was lapped by the race leader. And it was not long before the main bunch reeled him in as well, the red flag going up to signal the end of Abraham's challenge, his hopes of completing the 40-lap race dashed.
Afterwards, Abraham told the Express the cancellation of a proposed pre-Games training camp contributed to his sub-par performance.
"The day before we were supposed to leave we got word that the training camp was cancelled due to lack of funds. It would have been my final stepping stone prior to here. When the training camp was denied it put us in a certain position because we were all counting on that. Each athlete always has a specific programme that they look forward to, and when things don't go that way it kind of screws up the entire preparation.
"We still came out here," he continued, "and put our best foot forward. We tried to represent the country as best as we can and I'm just happy to have made the final. I didn't do as well as I planned but I've got to look forward to the road race [on Sunday]."
Super heavyweight boxer Tariq Abdul Haqq was dominant in his duel with Pakistan's Meer Khan, at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium. Haqq won 10-1 to book a quarterfinal showdown with New Zealand's Joseph Parker.
Welterweight Aaron Prince was also on show, yesterday. He was beaten 11-3 by India's Dilbag Singh.
The T&T men's hockey team lost to South Africa in a Group B fixture, at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. The scoreline, though, was one they could be proud of, the South Africans, ranked 12th in the world, winning 5-3.
Though way down at 29 on the rankings list, T&T were on level terms with their opponents at the halftime interval. Captain Kwandwane Browne scored in the 10th minute to equalise for T&T following a South Africa strike five minutes earlier. And four minutes before the break, Wayne Legerton was on target for a second T&T equaliser.
The 2-2 halftime score was a victory in itself for T&T.
By the 50th minute of the game, South Africa were up 4-2. But T&T remained in contention thanks to Legerton's second item, in the 52nd. The only other goal, however, was scored by Taine Paton, the South African finding the target in the very last minute of the match.
Kwan and company return to the Dhyan Chand Stadium today for a showdown with Canada.
The T&T hockey women were whipped 7-0 by India, yesterday, in their final Group A fixture. T&T lost all four matches to finish at the bottom of the five-team table.
Joshua McLeod, Caryle Blondell and Cadell Lyons were all eliminated in the opening round of the men's 50m freestyle, at the Dr. S.P.M. Aquatics Complex.
McLeod was the fastest of the three T&T swimmers, touching the wall in 23.86 seconds to finish seventh in heat eight and 18th overall. The top 16 swimmers secured semifinal berths.
Blondell and Lyons were 22nd and 25th, respectively, clocking 24.18 and 24.30.
Para-swimmer Shanntol Ince will be in the pool today, competing in the women's 100m butterfly S9.
And at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex, T&T's netballers face Malawi in a Group A fixture.