The Bahamas' sole sailor at the second Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, finds himself quite a distance behind after two of the series races in the Byte CII Class (male's one person dinghy).
Paul de Souza was 11th in the first race yesterday, but faded to 24th in the second to put himself out of early contention. After two races in the 11-race series, he is 18th overall out of 30 competitors, with 35 total points. He finds himself 30 points behind the leader.
The early leader, Pedro Luiz Marcondes Correa, from Brazil, finished first in the opening race and was fourth in the second race, for five points after the first day of sailing. The 16-year-old holds a two-point lead over second place. Angello Guiria, from Peru, is second with seven points, finishing fourth and third in the two races. Justin Vittecoq, from Canada, is in the bronze medal position with 13 total points, finishing second and 11th in the two races thus far. Guiria and Vittecoq are just 15 and 14 years old, respectively.
The wind was blowing at five knots in the first race and eight knots in the second race.
After a respectable showing in the first race, de Souza, 16, struggled in the second race. Marcondes Correa took the first race in 40:45, and 16-year-old Asri Azman, from Malaysia, claimed the second race in 47:42.
The next three races in the series will take place today at the Jinniu Lake sailing venue in Nanjing.
Also seeing action for The Bahamas yesterday was the tennis tandem of Justin Roberts and Rasheed Carey.
Matched up against the top seeded team of Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in the first round of the boys' doubles competition, the Bahamian duo knew that they had their work cut out for them. Unfortunately, they were outclassed by the Russians, falling 6-1 and 6-3. The match lasted just 53 minutes.
The sporting discipline of tennis is being played on the hard courts of the Tennis Academy of China in Nanjing.
Roberts and Carey will be back in action today, this time playing in mixed doubles.
Roberts will team up with Renata Zarazua Ruckstuhl, from Mexico, in the mixed doubles competition, and they will take on the second seeded team of Russians Karen Khachanov and Anastasiya Komardina in their opening round match. They will play the fourth match on court two, scheduled for around 6:30 a.m. today Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Carey is scheduled to play around the same time. He and his mixed doubles partner, Simona Heinova, of the Czech Republic, will take on the Colombian team of Luis Hernan Valero Zamorano and Maria Fernanda Herazo Gonzalez, in their opening round match. They will play the fourth match on court eight. A total of 37 countries are represented in both genders in the tennis competition.
In swimming, Joanna Evans swam in a timed final of the women's 800 meters (m) freestyle early this morning in Nanjing, late last night here in The Bahamas. The result was unavailable up to press time. Evans went into the event with the 15th fastest qualifying time among 27 athletes. The final heat of the timed final is set for 6 a.m. today EST. All of the swimming events are taking place at the Nanjing OSC Natatorium.
The athletics segment of the games gets underway on Wednesday.
Overall, about 3,800 athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 years, from 204 countries, are competing in 28 sporting disciplines in Nanjing.
Team Bahamas is represented by 14 athletes - three swimmers, two tennis players, one sailor and eight track and field athletes. The games are set to conclude on August 28.
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