Jamaica clinch silver after losing final

Jamaica were beaten 3-1 by Guatemala in the men’s badminton final at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico last night.



After playing outstandingly to reach the gold medal game, Jamaica never recovered from losing the two opening singles contests and were forced to settle for silver.



Charles Pyne went down 9-21, 16-21 to Kevin Cordon and Gareth Henry temporarily raised Jamaica’s hopes when he levelled the clash with a come-from-behind 20-22, 21-16, 21-19 triumph over Rodolfo Ramirez.



Garron Palmer was crushed 12-21, 9-21 by Pedro Yang in the third singles match-up before Gareth Henry and Garron Palmer went down to Kevin Cordon and Rodolfo Ramirez 12-21, 13-21 in the doubles encounter.



Earlier, Jamaica clinched a spot in the final after they dismissed Trinidad and Tobago in the semi-finals.



In Women’s basketball, Jamaica were upset by the Dominican Republic as they registered their first loss of the preliminary round.



Fresh from their silver medal performance at CentroBasket, Jamaica crashed to a 72-62 loss at the Arquelio Torres Ramirez Coliseum.



The dependable Simone Edwards led with 19 points and 15 rebounds while Vanessa Gidden came off the bench to also score 19 points and haul in 10 rebounds. Nicole Louden added 17 and eight assists in the losing effort.



For the Dominican Republic, Carmen Guzman led all scorers with 29 points while Sugeiry Monsac supported with 14 points. Charlenny Frias chipped in with 10 points and five assists.



Jamaica will next face Mexico tomorrow.