T&T 21st on Junior Pan Am medal table.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Ahkeel Boyd just missed out on a podium finish on the final day of the inaugural Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, yesterday.
Both Boyd and Mexican Hermann Andriano finished with a score of seven in the mixed basketball shootout final. It was Andriano, though, who bagged the bronze medal after completing his 18-shot assignment in 45.20 seconds. Boyd took 47.30 seconds, and had to settle for fourth spot.
Boyd was actually second best among the men. There were two women, however, better than Boyd on the day, Chile’s Jovanka Ljubetic and Argentina’s Sofia Acevedo keeping him off the podium in the mixed gender competition.
Ljubetic was a runaway winner with the very impressive score of 17. Acevedo, meanwhile, snapped up silver with a score of nine.
Late on Saturday, T&T were beaten 22-12 by Argentina in the men’s 3x3 basketball seventh-place playoff. Boyd was the top scorer for eighth-placed T&T with seven points. Mikhail Phillip provided solid support with four, while Jael Lewis chipped in with a solitary point. For Argentina, Felipe Bonfigli was on fire, single-handedly outscoring T&T with 13 points.
Colombia struck gold in women’s 3x3 basketball with a 20-17 triumph over Dominican Republic. Argentina beat Chile 21-19 to claim bronze.
T&T finished 21st on the Junior Pan Am Games medal table with one silver and one bronze—the best showing by an English-speaking Caribbean nation. Kelsey Daniel captured silver for T&T in the men’s long jump, while his cousin, Tyriq Hosford earned bronze in the men’s javelin.
Brazil topped the medal table with 59 gold medals, 49 silver and 55 bronze. Colombia (48 gold, 34 silver, 63 bronze) finished second, with third spot going to the United States (47 gold, 29 silver, 38 bronze).