CAC GAMES: Medal eludes Guyana’s men’s hockey team

Guyana’s national men’s hockey team missed out on a medal on day 10 of the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games) in Barranquilla, Colombia.

HOCKEY

The Guyana men’s hockey team lost in their bid for a medal afternoon as they went down to pre-tournament favourite Trinidad and Tobago 0-5.  The Trinidadians earned a penalty stroke just two minutes in what seemed to be even game thus far and took the score to 1-0 in their favour through Tariq Marcano.

The Guyanese tried to shake off this early setback, but went down further just six minutes later when Trinidadian star Kwan Browne slammed in a rebound off a penalty corner shot that was initially saved by goalkeeper Medroy Scotland.

The game settled into a rhythm for the next 40 minutes with both teams having their share of chances although Trinidad seemed more purposeful in their possessions.  With the clock running down, the Guyanese who had been pressing forward in their effort to score began to run tired and unravel.

Trinidad capitalised on the gaps opening in the Guyanese defence as a result and in the 51^st, 52^nd and 56^th minutes, scored three more unanswered goals by a Mickell Pierre field goal and two penalty corners by Browne and Shaquille Daniel respectively.

Coach Robert Fernandes expressed satisfaction at his team’s performance throughout the tournament especially as Guyana was the only country in the competition which does not have an artificial turf on which to train.

He pointed out that fourth place was a very acceptable finishing position given that Guyana was one of three teams which had to go to a qualifier to be accepted into the games.

ATHLETICS

Emanuel Archibald of Guyana sprinted to a second-place finish in the first heat of the men’s 100m finishing in a solid time of 10.21 seconds.  Archibald returned later in the evening to race in the first men’s semi-final where he placed fifth with a time of 10.17, just failing to qualify for the finals.

Jamaica’s Nesta Carter finished the semi-finals with the fastest time of 9.92 seconds, while Colin Greene of Antigua was the second fastest finisher with 10.00.