Trinidad and Tobago secured their first medal of the Pan American (PanAm) Games courtesy of the Men’s 3X3 basketball team, which edged Venezuela 21-20 in the third-place playoff in Santiago, Chile on Monday.

The twin island republic, who had knocked off Brazil in Sunday’s quarterfinal, lost in their semi-final contest 21-9 to the United States. The Americans eventually won gold, 21-15 over hosts Chile in the final.

Trinidad and Tobago's National Basketball Federation vice president of organising and development Daron Lall was over the moon and said the fraternity appreciates every effort the team put out.

“We are extremely proud of our team. These guys have been working extremely hard over the last eight to ten weeks. We played some powerhouses. Thank you to the team and the coaching staff for all they did. We know the struggles they went through and the obstacles that happened, but we are grateful as a country for putting us on the map. It’s emotional," Lall said.

At the Centro Acuatico, TT swimmer Nikoli Blackman had another tough day in the pool as the settled for sixth place in the men’s 100m freestyle B final. He clocked 50.81s.

In the earlier heats, Blackman placed sixth in heat three of four, in 51.01s. His time was 17th fastest overall but good enough for the B final. Racing out of heat four was compatriot Zarek Wilson, who was eighth fastest to the wall in 58.37s.

Meanwhile, one of CARICOM’s best hopes for a PanAm Games boxing medal in Chile, Keevin Allicock was eliminated Monday.

The Guyanese lost his featherweight quarter-final bout to American Jahmal Harvey, the 2021 world champion in the 57kg division. Top Barbadian Charles Cox also lost his light heavyweight quarterfinal, going down 4-1 to Haiti’s Cedric Belony-Duliepre.