CAC Games: Guyana’s hockey ladies lose to Mexico

Guyana’s female hockey team suffered defeat at the hands of Mexico when action in Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games) continued with day six events in Barranquilla, Colombia.

HOCKEY

The Mexican hockey ladies stamped their domination of Pool A with their third victory in as many matches with their most recent one being at the expense of Guyana.  The Guyanese team management knew the match would have been a tough challenge based on what they have seen so far of Mexico and on the results prior to Tuesday’s games.

As a result, Guyana started with a defensive structure which seemed to be going well only up to the fifth minute when Mexican striker Fernanda Oviedo unleashed a reverse shot that caught Guyanese goalkeeper Alysa Xavier by surprise as it ricocheted off the inside of the far post and shook the net viciously.

The Guyanese ladies shook off the early setback and played a competitive half of hockey despite facing greater pressure from Mexico than they were able to impart themselves.

After a halftime score of 1-0, Mexico would begin the second half in similar fashion as a mis-trapped aerial pass was pounced upon by a Mexican midfielder who drove forward in counterattack before splitting the Guyanese deep defence with a through pass to Captain Michel Navarro.  Faced with the oncoming Xavier, Navarro skilfully and deceptively guided the ball past the right leg of the goalkeeper for Mexico’s second goal of the match.

Although Mexico had a few more chances, Xavier was rock solid in goal for Guyana as usual and the match finished with the Mexican 2-0 victory.  This match places Guyana at the bottom of the four-team Pool A which is led by Mexico followed by Cuba with the Dominican Republic in the third spot.

Pool B finds Trinidad and Tobago in top spot, followed by Barbados, Jamaica and Guatemala in that order.  After missing out on the semi-finals, Guyana has a chance to play Jamaica in the round to determine places five to eight.

Meanwhile, The Guyanese men’s team play Guatemala on July 25 where a victory could put them into the semi-finals.

BOXING

Welterweight (64kg) Colin Lewis is the first boxer from Guyana to take the stage when he faces Onealt Stevenso Mayorga of Nicaragua on July 25.

Bantamweight (56kg) Keevin Allicock will compete on July 27 against Christian Marroquin Jimenez of El Salvador.

SWIMMING

Swimmers Jamela Sanmoogan and Andrew Fowler will enter their final events on July 25 when they both swim in the Men’s and Women’s 50m Freestyle respectively.

SQUASH

The Guyana men’s squash team of Sunil Seth, Jason-Ray Khalil and Nyron Joseph defeated Panama by 3-0 in the first of their pool matches.  They however, were defeated by Colombia 0-3 later this evening.  The pool round is a round-robin format and so the men play Jamaica tomorrow to determine the final pool placings.  The top three teams in their pool will advance to the quarter-final knockout round.

In Women’s team competition, Ashley Khalil, Mary Fung-a-Fat and Taylor Fernandes of Guyana lost to Barbados by 1-2.  They face powerhouses Colombia in their other pool round match tomorrow with the top two finishers in the pool advancing to the semi-final knockout round.