ORLANDO, United States — Bocce Head Coach Hugh McDonald remains upbeat despite Jamaica missing out on medal finishes on Thursday’s fourth day of action at the Special Olympics USA Games.

In the bronze medal match in Division UD-X06 of the doubles competition, athlete Kella Smith and unified partner Arianna Smith (not related) had to settle for fourth when they were defeated 5-10 by Todd McKinnon and Darlene Pierce of Rhode Island.

Athlete Anthoney Williams and partner Chevaun Warren claimed fifth in Division UD-X09 when they beat Ila Goodwin and Bailey Davis of Mississippi 11-7 in their unified doubles play-off.

Jamaica’s lone medal in bocce so far at these games came when Williams won gold in singles action on Tuesday.

“For the girls in their match it wasn’t as we expected, but otherwise I think they did well,” McDonald told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

“The boys, I think did well, because if they had played the earlier matches like they did today they would have won all their games. But I think the nerves got to them,” he said.

The Jamaicans now turn attention to the four-member team competition to end their campaign at the 2022 USA Games. Their preliminary contest is scheduled against a team from Oregon comprising Samantha Lee, Ivory Moore-Pike, Vickie Lee and John Pike.

“They have team competition tomorrow and they are upbeat. I was trying to get them to relax, and we’ve already worked out our strategy. I’m expecting them to do much better,” said the Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) bocce coach.

In bocce, players use an underarm action to bowl a ball at a target with points awarded based on its proximity to the target.

Jamaica also missed out on a medal in the pool when swimmer Kyle Chin, who put in solid performances throughout the competition, was eighth with a time of 42.67 seconds in Division M05 of the 50-yard freestyle at the Rosen Aquatic Center.

Shawn Richards of New Jersey (39.13) was first, followed by Shiv Patel of New Mexico (39.57) and Brent Moretz of North Carolina (39.58).

Kadian Ingleton won gold for Jamaica in the 500-yard freestyle pool swim on Monday’s opening day of competition. She backed that up with a bronze in the open water (1,000m) race at Lucky’s Lake on Wednesday.

The Jamaican team is among 11 programmes from the Caribbean competing as invitees at the USA Games, a first for the region. The others are Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

— Sanjay Myers