media_artricles :: 2018

Olympic youth athletes return empty-handed

Kelsey Daniel was the lone T&T athlete in action yesterday at the Youth Olympics Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina and he left empty-handed after completing Stage two in the men's triple jump event. This means that T&T exits the international event without any medals.

Daniel had a combined total of 27.77 metres to place 15th and last overall with his second-best mark measuring 13.13m yesterday. This was added his personal best mark of 14.64m achieved on Saturday.

Stage one leader Cuban Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun dominated the field and won gold with a combined total of 34.18m, registering marks of 17.14m in the first stage and 17.04m in the other. Ineh Oritsemeyiwa of Nigeria was the silver medallist with 31.85 (16.34/15.51) and bronze went to India's Praveen Chithravel with 31.52 (15.84/15.68).

Daniel was one of two T&T athletes that competed in track and field. The other was sprinter Dominic Cole and he finished 25th overall in the men's 100m event with a combined time of 22.53 seconds, clocking 11.52 to place fifth in heat four of Stage one on Friday and on Monday in Stage two, third in 11.01 in the second heat.

T&T was also represented in swimming and futsal at the Youth Olympics, the world's largest multi-sport competition for young high-performance athletes, which began on October 6 and ends tomorrow (Thursday). 

Kael Yorke was the sole swimmer competing for T&T and he raced in three events, first in the men's 100m butterfly, then in the 50m butterfly and in the 200m butterfly. Yorke did not advance past the heats in any of the events.

In his first event on October 8, racing in heat five, he touched the wall in 55.72 seconds to place eighth and 28th overall. Two days later, he was 26th overall after placing fifth in 25.20 in the fourth heat and on Friday, he clocked 2:05.03 to place third in heat two and 21st on the summarised table.

Debutants to the sport of futsal, players Aaliyah Prince, Kya Edwards, Nathifa Hackshaw, Moenesa Maijas, Chelsea Ramnauth, Maria Frances Serrant, Roshun Williams, Shamika York and Afiyah Cornwall gave a good account of themselves but did not make it out of the first round.

In its opening match of Group C, the national team was crushed 14-0 by Thailand but bounced back to beat Tonga, 7-5 thanks to a beaver-trick from 16-year-old Afiyah Cornwall, Aaliyah Prince, 17, added a pair of goals for T&T while 14-year-old defender Moenesa Mejias netted the other.

However, it was the lone win for T&T in the five-team pool, losing to Bolivia, 5-2 with one goal coming from Mejias and the other item, an own goal on Friday.

The following day, Nathifa Hackshaw scored the lone item for T&T in a huge 16-1 defeat to Spain, who will play Bolivia for the bronze medal today and later, the gold medal match will be between Portugal and Japan.

Leading the medal count is Russia with

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