….Edghill, Cummings advance in Women’s Singles
A of mixed fortunes for Guyana on day of Track and Field at the Commonwealth Games, but when the dust was settled at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, Aliyah Abrams provided hope for the Land of Many Waters reaching a finals from the day’s preliminary rounds.
A time of 52.23 seconds was not only good enough for second place, but also put Abrams in the semi-finals of the women’s 400 metres.
Abrams is no stranger to the ‘big stage’ but this is her first Commonwealth Games; something she said is no different than the other major competition.
Kenisha Phillips ran 54.08s to finish sixth in Heat One of the Women’s 400m and started her first outing at the games on a disappointing note.
Quamel Prince was way off his best in the men’s 800m, finishing 6th in time of One minute, 50.52s (1:50.82).
He did not advance to the semis.
Prince’s best time this season is 1:46.35, and his Personal Best time of 1:45.58s is Guyana’s National Record in the 400m.
It was not the Commonwealth Games debut that Arinze Chance wanted, but the National Indoor Record Holder ran 47.63s to finish 5th in the Men’s 400m Qualifiers.
His time was not fast enough to advance to the semi-finals. Chance will now focus on the 200m and 4X100m relay.
Meanwhile, Emanuel Archibald ran one of his slowest times this season, 10.43s, in the first of two semi-finals of the Men’s 100m.
The Finals was eventually won by Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.
Over in the women’s, Jasmine Abrams ran 11.46s in the women’s semi-finals. With a Personal Best-time of 11.07s, which is Guyana’s National Record, Abrams has not ran anywhere close to her times at the Commonwealth Games since 2019, where she trotted to 11.48s.
Olympic Champion and the fastest woman alive in the 100m, won semi-finals that featured Abrams, and would go on to win her first individual Commonwealth Games gold medal with a time of 10.95s.
Phillips will return to the track today in the women’s 200m, along with Aliyah Abrams and Noelex Holder, Akeem Stewart and Arinze Chance will compete in the Men’s 200m Heats.
In table tennis, Chelsea Edghill and Natalie Cummings had superb showing in the women’s singles and were the only Guyanese, male or female, to advance to the Round-of-32.
Tennis will continue today with the Mixed Doubles, Women’s Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Singles Round-of-32.
