T&T’s Roger Daniel shot his way to this country’s first medal, a silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol final on the second day of the 16th Pan American Games in Quadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, yesterday. Competing at the Pan American Games Polygon in Jalisco, Daniel improved on his 14th place finish from four years ago in Brazil after he produced a score of 99.1 in the one shot final for an overall tally of 676.1 points. This after he scored 577 points in the morning qualification round to be second as well in the 34-competition field ahead of the one shot final. The 41-year-old Daniel’s overall tally also fell just shy of the old record of USA’s Jason Turner (678) set four years in Rio de Janeiro.
The silver for Daniel continues his good form from last year during which time he won two medals each at both the Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico in July and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India in October on his way to being voted as “First Citizens Sportsman of the Year” for 2010. At the CAC Games he won gold in the 25m Standard Pistol and bronze in the 50m Air Pistol while in New Delhi, India he bagged a silver in the Men’s 25m Standard Pistol and bronze as part of the 50m Pistol Team (pairs) with Rodney Allen.
However in Mexico, yesterday, Turner’s record was broken by fellow American Daryl Lee Szarenski, who after scoring 583 in the qualification round tallied 98.7 in the final for a golden medal tally 681.7 Brazilian, Julio Antonio Almedia, who was fifth at the end of the qualification round with 575 points took the bronze medal with a final round of 100.2 for a combined score of 675.2. In the qualification round Szarenski’s (583 points) also bettered the old record of Turner (579) from four years ago. Also yesterday, the T&T women’s beach volleyball pairing of Elki Phillip and Ayana Dyette suffered a 5-21, 16-21 loss to world champion duo Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil in their opening Pool F match at the Beach Volleyball Stadium in Jalisco.
Today, the local pair will play Cubans Nirian and Onayami Sinal from 12 noon. The Cubs defeated Ariana Vilela and Katherine Chila of Ecuador 18-21, 21-15, 15-13 in yesterday’s other Pool F match. Taekwondo’s Lenn Hypolite gets his first taste of competition when he fights Venezuela’s Carlos Vasquez in a round-of-16 men’s Under-80kg encounter from 12.30pm today. Tomorrow (Tuesday), Daniel, Robert John Auerbach and Phillip and Dyette will be in action. Daniel, will compete in the Men’s 50m Pistol qualification round, an event he won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Auerbach sees action in the Men’s Trap qualifiaction and Phillip and Dyette against Vilela and Chila in their final Pool F preliminary round match. Four years ago, T&T won four medals, a silver from cyclist Emile Abraham in the Men’s Individual Road Race, and three bronze from shot-putter Cleopatra Borel, swimmer George Bovell and Chinedum Osuji. Bovell successes came in the in the Men’s 50m freestyle and Osuji in the Men’s-80kg taekwondo event.
-Nigel Simon
Source: www.guardian.co.tt