media_artricles :: 2014

Lucas in 100 hurdles final

Josanne Lucas will face the starter in lane eight in today’s Commonwealth Games women’s 100 metres hurdles final.

The Trinidad and Tobago athlete finished strong in yesterday’s second qualifying heat, at Hampden Park, here in Glasgow, Scotland to snatch the runner-up spot and an automatic berth in the championship race. In a tight finish, Lucas and third-placed Serita Solomon, of England, were credited with the same time, 13.38 seconds. Lucas, though, had the edge in the photo finish, and she was very grateful, for the clocking could not earn Solomon a “fastest loser” lane in the final.

The other T&T athlete in the event, Deborah John was fifth in heat three in 13.63 seconds, and did not progress.

Rondel Sorrillo missed out on a lane in the men’s 200m final by three-hundredths of a second.

Running in lane one, the T&T sprinter clocked 20.57 seconds to finish third in the second semifinal heat. With only the top two finishers in each semi guaranteed a championship race berth, Sorrillo’s only hope of advancing was to be one of the two “fastest losers”. He came up short, and had to settle for ninth spot overall.

Kyle Greaux was also drawn in lane one, and like his T&T teammate, found the going tough. He got to the line in 20.93 seconds to finish seventh in heat three and 19th overall.

In the final, Jamaica swept the medals. Rasheed Dwyer clocked 20.14 for gold, finishing ahead of Warren Weir (20.26) and Jason Livermore (20.32).

In the second women’s 200m semifinal, T&T’s Reyare Thomas gave a big effort, battling tenaciously on the straight to grab third spot in 23.35 seconds. The clocking, though, was not fast enough to earn her a lane in the final as a “fastest loser”.

In the championship race, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare won in 22.25 seconds to complete the women’s sprint double. England’s Jodie Williams (22.50) and Bianca Williams (22.58) earned silver and bronze, respectively.

Annie Alexander finished 15th in the women’s discus qualifying competition with a 47.73 metres effort. The top 12 throwers progressed to the final. In Wednesday’s shot put event, Alexander fouled her three attempts. Her T&T teammate, Cleopatra Borel was the bronze medallist with an 18.57m throw.

T&T finished 10th in the netball competition, here in Glasgow. In yesterday’s ninth-place playoff, at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), T&T were beaten by Scotland. The hosts led by 12 goals at the halftime interval, and by the end of the game had extended the 24-12 scoreline to 46-28. For T&T, veteran goal shoot Janelle Barker had a perfect shooting record—11 goals from 11 attempts.

At Scotstoun Campus, France-based table tennis player Dexter St Louis lost in the round of 32 in the men’s singles, going under 11-5, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9 to second-seeded Zhan Jian, the world number 34. The Singaporean completed victory in 25 minutes.

In his first round match, St Louis battled from behind to stop Northern Ireland’s Peter Graham 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. Trailing 1-2 in games, St Louis dug deep, and though he was not allowed to dominate his determined opponent, the five-time Caribbean champion was just too good, winning the next three games to set up the clash with Zhan Jian.

Curtis Humphreys was competitive at times in his men’s singles first round duel with Stephen Jenkins. The Welshman, however, was in control for the most part, beating T&T’s top-ranked home-based player 11-3, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9.

St Louis and Humphreys went toe to toe with the second-seeded Singapore combination of Zhan Jian and Yang Zi in the opening game of their men’s doubles round of 16 fixture. The going was tougher thereafter, the Asians winning 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 to progress to the quarterfinal round.

T&T’s Aleena Edwards and Catherine Spicer beat Botswana pair Boitshwarelo Butale and Tshepiso Rebatenne at 7, 4 and 5 in their women’s doubles first round contest. But Edwards and Spicer exited at the next stage, losing to India’s Ankita Das and Poulomi Ghatak at 7, 3 and 4.

Rheann Chung and Ashley Quashie were also eliminated in the second round, but gave a spirited performance before going under 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 to Australians Zhenhua Dederko and Zhang Ziyu.

T&T squash players were also on show at Scotstoun Campus.

In a mixed doubles pool “F” contest, David Evans and Deon Saffery of Wales stopped Colin Ramasra and Kerrie Sample 11-1, 11-6. Ramasra and Sample finished with a 1-2 win-loss record, and did not advance to the knockout phase.

Kale Wilson and Charlotte Knaggs finished without a win in pool “D” of the mixed doubles, and were also eliminated. The T&T players were beaten yesterday by Peter Creed and Tesni Evans, the Welsh pair cruising home 11-2, 11-5.

And T&T finished 10th and last in the women’s hockey tournament. In the playoff for ninth spot, at the National Hockey Centre, yesterday, T&T succumbed 4-0 to Wales.

Team T&T Today
(All TT times)

1.00 p.m. – Hockey, Men vs Wales
After 1.30 p.m. – Boxing, Michael Alexander, men’s lightweight semifinal
1.40 p.m. – Athletics, women’s 4x400 qualifying
2.10 p.m. – Athletics, men’s 4x400 qualifying
4.10 p.m. – Athletics, women’s 4x100 qualifying
4.43 p.m. – Athletics, men’s 4x100 qualifying
4.40 p.m. – Athletics, Keshorn Walcott, men’s javelin qualifying
5.10 p.m. – Athletics, Josanne Lucas, women’s 100 hurdles final

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