Cayman tennis players Abigail Anderson and Ricardo Solon claimed a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event on 13 July to add to the medal tally racked up by the country’s swimming and athletics teams so far at the 2023 Island Games.
“We are thrilled to win a medal for [the] Cayman Islands – the first one in more than a decade,” Solon said.
Fighting through round of 16 and quarterfinal matchups against teams from Jersey and Gotland, respectively, the duo reached a semifinal match against the Isle of Man. Though they did not advance to the event’s final, Anderson and Solon did secure a bronze medal to bring Cayman’s total medal count to 16 at the end of the penultimate day of the Games.
“Everyone in the Cayman team played well and we have learned so much,” Anderson said.
Meanwhile, the pair’s fellow tennis duo of Calvin Cheng and Lea Neverilova are set to face off against Jersey in the semifinals of the mixed doubles plate (consolation) tournament on 14 July.
Men’s basketball to contest bronze medal match
Despite securing victory in their third straight group stage game with a 99-31 win over the Isle of Man, results elsewhere in the tournament meant that Cayman’s men’s basketball team won’t get the chance to defend their Island Games title in the tournament’s final on 14 July.
Due to the set-up of men’s basketball at these Games, with a format that co-captain Kwei General-Vanderpuije said he hasn’t seen used at the competition before, the team’s opening match loss against eventual Group A winners Menorca (who finished the group stage unbeaten) resulted in their finishing second in their group.
However, that placing does mean that Cayman qualified for the bronze medal match against the Isle of Wight, scheduled for 14 July at 5:30 a.m. Cayman time and streamed live on YouTube via the official account of the Games. While it may not be the third straight gold medal the team yearned for, General-Vanderpuije said his team are ready to battle it out for a medal.
“We don’t want to leave here empty-handed,” the co-captain said. “We’re going in tomorrow with the same kind of competitiveness as if we were playing for the gold to make sure we take care of business and secure our medal.”
General-Vanderpuije added that in the words of the team’s coach, “the bronze might be better than the silver because at least you win the bronze – the silver just means you lost the gold.”
Jackson just off the podium in sailing ILCA 6
After a series of 10 races over the course of the games, sailor Will Jackson ended up just shy of the podium with an impressive fourth-placed finish in the ILCA 6 class. Throughout the five scheduled days of competition, Jackson placed as high as third (in three races) and no lower than ninth.
Also competing in the ILCA 6 class – in which men and women were categorised together – was Cayman’s Ava Hider, who finished up in 16th place out of 23 total sailors.
Final day to come
Continue to follow all of Cayman’s results across the remaining sports still in contention on the final day of the Games, including the Cayman women’s basketball team’s gold medal match scheduled for 10 a.m. Cayman time on 14 July, via the official Island Games website.
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