Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Welterweight Ricardo Smith has not yet thrown a punch in the boxing tournament at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro but he has already guaranteed Jamaica's first medal at the Games.

Smith first drew a bye into the quarter-finals of the welterweight division then yesterday his opponent, Cuba's Erislandy Lara, failed to show at the boxing venue, giving the Jamaican a spot in the semi-finals and at least a bronze medal. Smith was happy for the medal but disappointed that he did not see any action.

"I was prepared for the fight and was looking forward to it," Smith said.

The 21-year-old added that his confidence has now been lifted by the fact that he has at least a bronze medal for his country.

"Now I feel more confident in myself and looking forward to face either the Brazilian or the fighter from Ecuador," he added.

Smith will in fact face Brazil's Pedro Lima in the semi-finals tomorrow. Lima beat Ecuador's Jaime Cortez 13-3 on points.

Jamaica's second boxer, featherweight Nicholas Walters, will bow into action this afternoon when he faces Cuban Idel Torriente.

Jamaica's female basketballers scored their first-ever win in women's competition at the Games yesterday, beating Mexico 69-46.

The Jamaican team is, however, out of contention for a medal as they had a heart-breaking 58-46 loss to Canada on Saturday night. Brazil and Canada take the top-two spots in Group A and Jamaica will play-off for positions five to eight.

Centre Simone Edwards, Jamaica's best player at the Games, expressed her disappointment at the loss to Canada.

Jamaica led 19-15, 28-22 and 39-35 after the first three quarters but Canada went on a 12-0 run early in the fourth and did not look back.

"We won the first three quarters and at the end the Canadians overcame us. It's very difficult The Canadian team had the advantage of having good players on the bench. Our point guard Nicole Louden injured her nose and played only five minutes," Edwards said.

Louden played 33 minutes in Jamaica's first game against Brazil. Edwards' 12 points and nine rebounds and Erika Messam with 12 points were the leading players against Canada. Teresa Gabriel led the way for Canada with a game-high 17 points.

In yesterday's match Jamaica led from the start and were up by 27 points midway the fourth quarter. Edwards again top-scored with 22 points, while captain Vanessa Gooden got 12. The scores at the end of the first three quarters were 18-12, 32-22 and 54-33.

Swimmer Alia Atkinson placed eighth in the women's 200m breaststroke final, won in a Games record two minutes 25.62 seconds by American Caitlin Leverenz. Canada's Annamay Pierse earned silver in 2:26.79 while another American took bronze in 2:28.20.

Atkinson's time was 2:40.19.

- Elton Tucker

IN ACTION TODAY

ATHLETICS

Starts at noon

Men

Decathlon - Maurice Smith

400m heats: Edino Steele, Leford Green

Long jump: Anthony McGregor, Jermaine Jackson

100m heats: Xavier Brown, Jason Livermore

Women

100m heats: Tracy-Ann Rowe, Pete-Gaye Dowdie

Hammer Throw final: Nicky Grant

400m hurdles semis: Nickiesha Wilson, Shevon Stoddart

800m: Ysanne Williams

BOXING

3:15: Featherweight Nicholas Walters vs Idel Torriente (Cuba)

TENNIS

Men's singles

8:00 a.m: Dominic Pagon vs Sebastian Vidal (Guatemala)

11 a.m: Eldad Campbell vs Victor Estrella (DR)