As the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games entered another full day of competition in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, Barbadian athletes delivered a mixed bag of results across multiple disciplines, with one standout qualifying performance highlighting a day of mixed fortunes for the Caribbean nation’s delegation.
The highlight of Wednesday’s action came from the athletics track, where rising Barbadian sprinter Kelia Bentham secured her place in the women’s 200m final after posting a new season-best time in her semifinal heat. Competing in the second of three semifinal rounds, Bentham crossed the finish line in second position with a time of 23.20 seconds, a personal seasonal best that earned her a spot in the sport’s marquee final round.
Bentham’s breakthrough was countered by early exits for two other Barbadian sprinters in the men’s 200m semifinal stage. Aragorn Straker clocked 21.22 seconds to finish sixth in his second semifinal heat, falling short of the time needed to advance. In the third men’s 200m semifinal, Kuron Griffith posted a 20.67-second run to take fourth place, also missing out on qualification for the final.
Beyond sprinting events, Barbadian shooters competing in multiple women’s shooting qualification rounds also posted solid but non-qualifying results. In the women’s 25m pistol qualification, Tesonna Alleyne finished 14th in the precision segment and moved up to ninth in the rapid fire segment, not enough to advance to the final round. For the women’s 10m air rifle qualification, three Barbadian shooters took home mid-to-back rankings: Brodella Ramchere placed 14th, Camara Williams 20th, and Calleah Walcott 21st respectively.
In racket sports, Barbadian competitors faced tough losses across draw matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. Men’s singles table tennis athlete Tre Riley was knocked out in the round of 32 by Venezuela’s Raymundo Medina, who secured a straight-set victory with scores of 11-7, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6. On the squash court, two Barbadian pairs fell to Guatemalan opponents in Tuesday evening matches: the men’s doubles duo of Khamal Cumberbatch and Darien Benn lost 11-6, 11-1 to Josue Enriquez and Alejandro Enriquez, while the mixed doubles pair of Amanda Haywood and Darien Benn fell 11-7, 11-2, 11-2 to Guatemala’s Jose Toscano and Winifer Bonilla.
In team sports action on Tuesday, Barbados’ national netball team suffered a 61-39 defeat at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago, marking the team’s second match of the tournament after an opening round 56-25 win over Bermuda. Other English-speaking Caribbean teams found more success in the same round: St. Lucia earned a 49-22 win over host nation Dominican Republic, while Jamaica recorded a dominant 79-19 victory over Bermuda.
In other athletics action, skateboarder Tarryn Alleyne secured a spot in Wednesday’s men’s street skateboarding final after finishing sixth out of 10 competitors in the preliminary round. For the 400m semifinal rounds held Tuesday evening, two Barbadian athletes failed to advance to the final: Desean Boyce finished sixth in the third men’s 400m semifinal with a time of 52.35 seconds, while Asia Foster took fourth in the second women’s 400m semifinal in 53.32 seconds, both falling short of the required rankings to move forward.