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Trinidad and Tobago finally struck gold at the Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay and it came in the form of sprinter Shaniqua Bascombe who produced a scintillating run to win the women's 100-metre final, on August 19.
In the semifinals on August 18, Bascombe clocked the second-fastest time (11.17 seconds) to finish behind Dominican Republic's Liranyi Alonso who broke the Junior Pan Am record with a 11.08-clocking. In the final, though, Bascombe got her revenge when she came from behind to defeat Alonso to the line in 11.19. Alonso clocked 11.40 to take second, with Puerto Rico's Frances Colon being timed at 11.46 to grab bronze.
Running out of lane six, Bascombe again had a slow start which left her with a lot of ground to make up. By the halfway stage, Bascombe still trailed her competitors but she found her top speed in the last 40 metres to catch and surpass her challengers to sprint to gold in emphatic fashion.
It was TT's ninth medal of the Junior Pan Am, with the eight medals before all being bronze. TT's cyclists and swimmers contributed to the country's first seven medals at the games, with long-jumper Janae De Gannes and Bascombe joining the party with clutch performances to lead their country's athletics charge in Paraguay.
TT were also well represented in the men's 400m semifinals, as both Jaden Marchan and Shakeem Mckay advanced to the final as automatic qualifiers. In the first semifinal heat, McKay clocked 45.98 to finish second behind Jamaica's Jasauna Dennis (45.73), with Marchan producing a measured run to win the second semifinal in 46.26. Jamaica's Shaemar Uter (46.44) and Guyanese athlete Malachi Austin (46.69) finished second and third respectively.
The men's final will be contested at 6.20 pm on August 20, with McKay and Marchan advancing with the second- and third-best times.
In table tennis, the team of Chloe Fraser and Jordan Thong had mixed results in women's team action as they lost 3-1 to Colombia in their first group D match before defeating Mexico in their second clash.
In the first encounter in the morning session on August 19, Fraser won the first game when she defeated Mariana Rodriguez but the Colombians battled back and won the next three games to win the overall contest 3-1.
Against the Mexicans in the evening session, TT flipt the script as they lost the first game before storming back to win the contest 3-1. Thong was beaten in straight sets by Ximena Figueroa in the first game, but Fraser answered the call for TT with a straight-sets win of her own against Maria Aguilar to level the match at 1-1. Fraser and Thong then teamed up to get an exciting comeback win in the doubles game, before the former iced the overall contest for TT with a straight-sets victory over Figueroa.
Fraser and Thong will be back in action from noon on August 20 when they face an Ecuador team which outlasted Mexico in a 3-2 thriller in their group D opener.
In the women's discus throw event late on August 18, TT's Lalenii Grant and Shakera Kirk finished sixth and ninth respectively. Grant's best throw of 48.82 metres came on her first attempt, while Kirk's best attempt of 47.57m came on her third throw.

TT's medal count: Nine medals (one gold, eight bronze).

Gold

– Shaniqua Bascombe (women's 100m)

Bronze

– Men's 4x100-metre freestyle (Zachary Anthony, Nikoli Blackman, Johann-Matthew Matamoro, Zarek Wilson)
– Men's cycling team sprint (Ryan D'Abreau, Danell James, Jelani Nedd)
– Women's cycling team sprint (Phoebe Sandy, Makaira Wallace and Kyra Williams)
– Nikoli Blackman (men's 50m freestyle)
– Makaira Wallace (women's individual sprint cycling)
– Makaira Wallace (women's keirin)
– Danell James (men's keirin)
– Janae De Gannes (women's long jump)

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