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Swimming gold for Surrey native at Pan-Am Games

Surrey and Delta athletes add to medal count in Mexico.
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Richard Weinberger took first place in the 10 km open water race at the Pan-American Games on Saturday.

Surrey native Richard Weinberger took gold in swimming at the Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday, edging out his nearest competitor by just three-tenths of a second.

The 21-year-old, who now attends University of Victoria, won the men’s 10 km. open water race Saturday, completing the Puerto Vallarta course in just over one hour 57 minutes. Argentina’s Guillermo Bertola came in beside him, the win by Weinberger only confirmed after a video review.

“The race was very hard. There were a lot of experienced swimmers here,” Weinberger said. “For the last finish, I just tried to out-sprint everyone and it worked out that I did.”

Results for other local athletes in Guadalajara include:

 

SOFTBALL

Canada’s women’s softball team, bolstered by North Delta’s Jennifer Yee and Surrey’s Melanie Matthews, added to Canada’s medal count Sunday.

The team followed up a loss to the USA on Thursday with a win against the Dominican Republic Friday.

They went on to win the bronze medal game Sunday morning, but lost again to the USA in the gold medal game later in the day, leaving Canada with silver and a record of 7-3 (won-lost) for the tournament.

 

BASEBALL

The Canadian baseball team, with Surrey’s Cole Armstrong, lost to Cuba on Thursday and then beat the Venezuela team Saturday, earning a spot in the semifinals Monday, after The Leader’s deadline. A win would have put Canada in the medal round today (Tuesday).

 

FIELD HOCKEY

Surrey’s Sukhwinder Singh and Delta’s Jagdish Gill are part of the Canadian men’s field hockey team which had three wins in preliminary play at the Games, defeating Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday, Chile on Saturday, and Barbados on Monday morning. The team, which won Pan-Am gold in 2007, now heads into the semifinals Thursday.

 

SAILING

Isabella-Anna Bertold sailed to a silver in Laser Radial on Sunday. The 20-year-old Surrey resident had placed fourth in her Friday race, and second on Saturday, before her medal win the following day.