Guyana’s top male 400m athlete Winston George booked a spot in the final of his pet event at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Vera Cruz, Mexico.

On the squash courts, women’s pair of Ashley Khalil and Ashley DeGroot are in search of a spot in the Women’s Doubles Final.
Running in the third semifinal yesterday at the Heriberto Jara Athletic Stadium, the Olympian George crossed the line in 46.88 seconds, to finish second and secure automatic qualification to today’s final. Carlos Lemos of Colombia won in 46.70 secs.
George’s time puts him in Lane 7 in search of a podium finish at 16:20hrs (Guy time). Mexico is two hours behind us.
Before leaving for Mexico, George said he was looking for a finals berth. Now that he’s there, he remains Guyana’s best hope of landing a medal in athletics.
Guyana’s other quarter-miler, Stephan James finished 5th in Semifinal One. He crossed the line in 46.92 secs. Venezuela’s Alberth Bravo won the one-lap event in 45.21 secs.
George is also down to face the starter’s gun in the Heats of the 200m today.
He’s been drawn in Lane 5 of Heat 1. He has the 2nd fastest Season Best (SB) time in this heat of 20.77 seconds. The only person faster is Mexico’s Jose Herrera 20.35 secs.
James is in Heat 3 –running out of Lane 8 with an SB of 20.94.
Should George and James be successful in the quarterfinal round – they will again face the starter’s gun in the semis, scheduled for 3:35pm. The 200m final will be run tomorrow.
Today will be George’s hardest day on track.
On Monday, 100m sprinters Jeremy Bascom and Adam Harris did not make it through to the finals.
Bascom in 10.92 seconds, finished at the bottom of the field. The starters clocked him as having the joint 3rd fastest reaction time out of the blocks but it was only one portion of the race.
Harris in Semifinal two finished in 6th – 10.75 seconds.
Both will combine with George and James to run in the 4 x 100m relays later this week.
The Athletics Association had also named Harris to compete in the Men’s Long Jump event scheduled for today, but a perusal of the jumpers did not have him listed among the competitors.
In Squash, Guyana’s Ashley Khalil and Ashley DeGroot have booked a semifinal spot in the Women’s Doubles. They dispatched the Barbadian pair of Nadia McCarthy and Kaitlin Jordon in straight sets – 11-3, 11-4.
They come up against the Colombians –Laura Tovar and Karol Gonzalez who beat Jamaica to advance.
That match is set for noon – local time.
The male campaign is over, Jason-Ray Khalil and Sunil Seth losing to the Cayman Islands – Alexander Frazer and Julian Jervis in two sets 11-7, 11-3 in the Round of 16 at the Racquet Center on Monday night.
Guyana’s Badminton players get into action in the men’s singles round of 32 today. Jonathan Mangra is down to face Venezuela’s Jhonatan Wu while Narayan Ramdhani faces Cuba’s Leodannis Martinez in the other.
The pair combine later in the day to face Guatemala’s Kevin Cordon and Anibal Marroquin.
Results and streaming of the events can be obtained at www.verzcruz2014.mx. Covert to English (ENG) at the top right of the page, then select calendar and follow Guyana’s progress by sport.

(By Leeron Brumell)