Good day for T&T in Rio as Osuji wins bronze

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T&T bagged its first piece of hardware at the 2007 Pan

American Games when Chinedium Osuji claimed a bronze

medal in the welterweight division of the Taekwando

competition at the Riocentro Sports Complex in Rio de

Janeiro,Brazil.

 

The 31 year old US based former St Mary's College

student had to dig deep to advance to the medal round.

 

Osuji won two tough matches before losing to James

Moontasri(USA) in the semi final bout.Moontasri

defeated Osuji in a slow technical battle 3 to

negative one,the American however lost in the

championship bout 200 Olympic champion Angel Matos of

Cuba.

 

"I am a disappointed that I did not get past

Moontasri.I wanted a shot at the gold medal.There are

a couple things I should have done better ,but I am

glad to earn a medal for my country and teammates.My

next objective is qualifying for Bejing next

year(Olympics) so it is back to the drawing

board"Osuji said.

 

Meanwhile the men's hockey team also had the T&T

delegation in celebratory mood following a historic

2-1 win over Cuba.While over at the aquatic center

swimmers George Bovell 111,his brother Nicholas and

Sharntelle Mclean all advanced to the semi finalrounds in their respective events.