Cleopatra Borel earned silver in the women's shot put at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, yesterday.
The Trinidad and Tobago athlete threw the iron ball 18.46 metres to finish second, behind Misleydis Gonzalez, the Cuban producing an 18.57m effort. Bronze went to American Michelle Carter (18.09m).
Yesterday's silver was an improvement on the bronze Borel bagged at the 2007 Pan American Games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Borel threw 18.32m in the opening round, yesterday, to take an early lead in the competition. She improved to 18.46m in round two. But in the third round, the 32-year-old T&T field athlete surrendered the lead, Gonzalez moving into the gold medal position with an 18.51m throw. The Cuban kept improving, closing off the competition with her 18.57m heave.
Borel's silver took T&T's medal haul in Guadalajara to four. Shooter Roger Daniel captured silver in the men's 10m air pistol event, cyclist Njisane Phillip claimed bronze in the men's sprint, and Emmanuel Callender secured bronze in the men's 100m dash.
Emanuel Mayers finished sixth in the men's 400m hurdles final, yesterday, the T&T athlete getting home in 50.00 seconds. Cuba's Omar Cisneros won in 47.99 seconds—a new Pan Am Games record. Jamaica's Isa Phillips (48.82) finished second, while third spot was copped by Dominican Republic's 2004 Olympic champion Felix Sanchez (48.85).
T&T's Pilar McShine was seventh in the women's 1,500m in four minutes, 30.05 seconds. Cuba's Adriana Munoz (4:26.09), Colombia's Rosibel Garcia (4:26.78) and Canada's Malindi Elmore (4:27.57) earned gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
T&T half-miler Jamaal James finished fourth in the second men's 800m semi-final, in 1:50.14, and did not advance to the final.
The T&T combination of Jamol James, Moriba Morain, Joel Dillon and Callender did not finish their men's 4x100m qualifying heat.
On Wednesday, Morain bowed out in the semi-final round of the men's 200m, the 19-year-old sprinter finishing eighth in heat one in 20.91 seconds.
Today, Ayanna Alexander competes in the women's triple jump, and Keshorn Walcott participates in the men's javelin.
In karate, T&T's Kwame Kinsale drew 0-0 with Puerto Rican Nelson Gonzalez and Canadian Shaun Dhillon, but lost 3-0 to Mexico's Alberto Ramirez. Kinsale did not advance to the semis.
In canoeing, Satyam Maharaj was eliminated in the men's K1 200m. Maharaj was sixth in his qualifying heat in 51.371 seconds. And in the semi-final race, he was sixth in 49.285.
After press time, last night, T&T's hockey men played United States. The winners advanced to tomorrow's fifth-place playoff.
Today, T&T's hockey women face Barbados in the seventh-place playoff. Late on Wednesday, Cuba edged T&T 2-1.
By Kwame Laurence
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com