Senior Multimedia Reporter
Hezekiel Romeo missed out on adding to Trinidad and Tobago’s medal haul at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games when he ended in the fourth spot in the men’s shot put nine-man final, while countryman Christopher Crawford was seventh at the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium yesterday.
Competing in the nine-man final, 32-year-old Romeo threw the iron ball a distance of 18.01 metres, his best of six attempts to finish in the fourth spot.
Romeo began the final with a throw of 17.45m on his first attempt, followed by 17.29m, 17.51m, and 17.73m, before his best effort on his fifth attempt was followed by a distance of 17.83m on his final attempt, finishing outside the medals.
The 24-year-old Crawford, meanwhile, achieved his best attempt of 17.62m on his third attempt, which came after his first two attempts landed, 17.36 and 17.41, respectively, while he fouled his fourth, fifth, and sixth attempts, respectively.
Mexico’s Uziel Muñoz, 30, took the lead in the quest for the gold medal from the first round with the lone throw of 20.23m before he had an attempt of 20.05 on the third attempt and then extended his leading mark with a throw of 20.51 on his fourth attempt and 20.30 on the fifth before he fouled, which mattered little, with the gold medal already in the bag.
Taking home the bronze medal was Cuban Juan Vasquez, 24, who threw the iron ball a distance of 19.34m on his third attempt after opening with a fouled effort followed by a distance of 18.81m and stayed in the silver medal spot throughout after his two other legal efforts of 18.43m and 18.85m, which were not far enough to surpass Munoz’s effort.
Joining Munoz on the medal podium was his countryman Jairo Moran, 28, who landed the iron ball 19.04m on his second attempt, while his other efforts were 18.42m, 18.60m, 18.49m, 18.88m, and 18.94m, respectively.
Shelbourne fifth in women’s triple jump
Twenty-year-old Keneisha Shelbourne was sixth among the eight finalists in the women’s triple jump with a best effort of 13.16m on her third attempt.
Shelbourne opened her gold medal hunt with a 12.71m leap but then fouled her second attempt before she recorded distances of 12.95m, 13.02m, and 13.03m on her final two efforts, missing out on the bronze medal, which was won by the Dominican Republic’s Ana Jose, who leapt a best effort of 13.85m on her fifth of six attempts, while Venezuelan Ornelis Ortiz was fourth with a best of 13.24m via her sixth and final attempt.
Cubans Leyanis Perez (14.78m) and Liadagmis Povea (14.71m) finished with the gold and silver medals, respectively, with their top distances coming on their first and sixth attempts, respectively.
Today, when athletics resumes, T&T’s Rinaldo Moore and Justin Guy will compete in the men’s 100m hurdles semifinal heats while Shakeen Mc Kay lines up in the men’s 400m semifinals.
Also in action today will be boxer Abdul Talor in a men’s 60kg quarterfinal bout against the US Virgin Islands’ Eri Thompson Jr.
The T&T team of Roger Daniel and Marsha Bullen-Jones combined for a score of 539.09 and the 16th spot in the mixed team qualifying round of the 10m Air Pistol at the Palmarejo Equestrian Center.
Bullen-Jones returns to the shooting range today for the start of the women’s 25m pistol qualification precision round.
T&T’s table tennis players Imani Edwards-Taylor, Rheann Chung, Chloe Fraser, Jordan Thong, and Khaleel Asgarali will be involved in women’s and men’s singles round-of-64 matches.
At the Ricardo Arias Volleyball Palace, T&T women’s volleyball team suffered a 19-25, 9-25, 20-25 loss to Colombia in Group A round-robin play.
Anna Karina Olaya led Colombia with ten points, with the pair of Dayana Segovia and Katherin Melissa Ramirez adding nine points each and Isabella Arroyave six in the straight-sets win to add to their five-sets win over Venezuela on Sunday night.
On the opposite side of the net, Kiune Fletcher had a team-high 11 points for T&T, while L’fe Roberts tallied seven and Desiree Donald and Malika Davidson had three points each in the losing effort.
It was the second defeat in as many matches for the Calypso Spikers, who were also swept by Mexico 10-25, 14-25, and 12-25 on Sunday in their opener, while they face Venezuela today in their final pool match.
Calypso Girls whip St Lucia
England-based Samantha Wallace-Joseph scored 34 goals as T&T women’s netballers outclassed St Lucia in their opening match of the six-team round-robin series at the Juan Bosch Sports Complex, last night.
From the first whistle, the Calypso Girls stamped their authority on the contest and led 11-5 at the end of the first 15-minute quarter, which they extended to 26-11 by the halftime interval.
The third period was a much closer contest, with T&T edging the St Lucians 11-9 to push the lead to 37-20, with main scorers Wallace-Joseph and Kalifa McCollin making way for Maikea Bramble and England-born debutant Kira Rothwell in the late stages of the final quarter, which T&T dominated 15-5.
Wallace-Joseph led the scoring for the Calypso Girls with 34 goals from 40 attempts, while McCollin chipped in with 12 goals from 13 attempts, and Rothwell and Bramble chipped in with two goals from three attempts and one from one attempt, respectively.
The St Lucians got 21 goals from 30 attempts, two of four attempts from Melika Destang, and two of eight attempts from Megan Nestor.
In the other matches played earlier, Barbados dominated Bermuda 56-25 while Jamaica crushed Dominican Republic 67-12.
Today, T&T will face Barbados from 6 pm while St Lucia faces the Dominican Republic in the opening match from 2 pm, followed by Jamaica and Bermuda two hours later.
