media_artricles :: 2016

Stewart sparkles again with silver

T&T's Akeem Stewart was determined to get another medal at the Paralympics which is ongoing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and that he did copping a silver in the Men's discus throw – F43/44 Final, with a throw of 61.72 metres yesterday at the Olympic Stadium.

He broke the F43 Paralympic record three times, in his first throw of 56.03m, then again with his second throw (61.70) and once again with his sixth and final throw of 61.72, to reach the podium for the second time at the world event.

Winning the gold was American David Blair, also breaking the F44 world record with a best toss of 64.11m. Bagging the bronze was Dan Greaves of Great Britain with 59.57.

Stewart was third after his opening throw of 56.03 and took the lead with his second round effort of 61.70. Blair went ahead of Stewart in the third round with the world record throw. Stewart recorded 60.83, 60.82 and 60.53 throws in the third, fourth and fifth rounds.

The Tobago-born athlete picked up T&T's second medal of the Games, nabbing gold in the javelin throw F44, a week ago. Thanks to Stewart, T&T is now tied in 54th place with Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Slovenia, which have similar two medals. Leading is People's Republic of China with 209 - 90 gold, 72 silver and 47 bronze. Great Britain is second with 122 (56/32/34) and third is Ukraine with 101 (36/31/34)

The National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) yesterday evening sent out a release praising Stewart on winning his second medal of the Games.

It said, "Congratulations young man, you have done your country proud. One gold (World and Para Record), one Silver (Para Record)."

Today, Nyoshia Cain will be the lone athlete in action for T&T, facing the starter in the women's 100m T44. She will run out of lane six in the second of three heats. If she qualifies, she will line up in the final tonight at 7.31 pm (T&T time).

On Wednesday, Cain was disqualified in her first event at the Paralympics in the women's 200 m T44. She crossed third behind German's Irmgard Bensusan and Marie-Ame Le Fur, respectively but later learned that she was disqualified for a lane infringement which was said to have taken place between the 100 and 150 metres markers during her run.

Following her disqualification, Cain said in a facebook post: "Despite getting DQ in the 200m semi for stepping on the line and shedding a few tears over it. Hurricain Nyo is even more determined to mount the podium in Rio."

She will now focus all her remaining energy on today's dash at 11.30 am (T&T time).

Swimmer Shanntol Ince participation came to an end on Thursday when she competed in her fourth and final race, the 100m butterfly S9 at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. She placed seventh in the third heat in 1:20.12 seconds. Her time ranked her 19th of the 20 swimmers that competed. Only the quickest eight advanced to the final.

In her other events she also struggled. On Tuesday in the women's 50 metres freestyle S9 event, she touched the wall in seventh place clocking 33.38, to rank 21st overall from a field of 22 swimmers.

Ince did not get favourable results in the finals of the 100m freestyle S9 on Monday and the 400m freestyle S9 last Friday, failing to advance out of the heats in either races.

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