PONCE, Puerto Rico -- Bermuda won a medal on the opening weekend of the Central American and Caribbean Games when swimmer Chris Flook picked up a silver in the 100 metres breaststroke event on Saturday night.

And Jenny Smatt came agonisingly close to winning a second medal for Bermuda last night after placing fourth in the women's 200 metres breaststroke final.

She missed out on the bronze by three-tenths of a second with her time of 2:45.22. The women's race was won in 2:39.38 by Sandra Arroya of Costa Rica.

Flook won the silver when he placed second to Mario Gonsalez of Cuba who had a winning time of 1:03.27. Flook, whose time of 1:04.62 was the fastest of the eight qualifiers, went even faster with his time of 1:04.04 in the final.

Both Gonsalez and Flook got inside Todd Torres' CAC Games record time of 1:04.34. Torres, of Puerto Rico, was third in the final to earn the bronze.

Flook's achievement was made all the more impressive because he beat the highly-rated Torres twice in the same day, having earlier beaten him in a heat.

"I did my best time by almost a second so I'm happy with that,'' said an obviously delighted Flook after the final.

Other members of the Bermuda team were in the crowd to support Flook in his final, which the youngster appreciated.

"This is my first CAC and I did get a silver, so what more could you ask,'' added Flook. "It sets me up well for the Commonwealth Games next year. I'm very happy I went this fast.'' Said coach Gareth Davies: "It was brilliant but I think he can go quicker. It dropped another nine-tenths of a second off his time from the Olympics.

"This is our first big medal in swimming. I would like to know how it ranks him in the Commonwealth. With that time it probably puts him in the top 50 in the world.'' Going into yesterday's women's breaststroke final, Smatt was third best qualifier with a time of 2:44.50.

Ironically, that time would have been good enough to earn her the bronze in the final as that was the time the third-placed finisher (Kenia Puertus Brinez of Venezuela) recorded to collect the last of the medals.

"I went in there and was going to give it everything,'' said Smatt afterwards.

Smatt was in second place after the 100-metre and 150-metre marks before slipping back in the last 50 metres of the race. It was her sprint time (over the 100-metre distance) that gives her much encouragement for the 100 metres breaststroke event tomorrow.

"I was really happy with my 100 of 1:18, so I'm looking forward to Tuesday,'' Smatt explained. "I'm hoping for a good time, and whatever that brings me.

"I was two seconds off my time in Barcelona and I've never swam that fast in the morning (in the heat), so that's great.'' Meanwhile, Trevor Ferguson failed to qualify for the 200 freestyle final on Saturday, finishing last in his heat in 2:06.96 while yesterday Stephen Fahy and Ian Raynor both failed to advance from their respective heats in the 100 butterfly. Both had personal bests, Fahy with his time of 1:01.51 and Raynor with 59.51, which matched his Olympics accomplishment of breaking the 60-second barrier.

Fahy and Geri Mewett will be in the pool today in the 100 metres freestyle.

Glen Astwood is the top sailing prospect at present as he is third in the Hobie 16 class after two races. Jay Kempe is eighth.

Peter Bromby is presently fifth in the J24 class while Malcolm Smith and Brett Wright are eighth and 12th respectively in the Laser class.

In tennis, Ricky Mallory and Donald Evans both exited the singles on the weekend. Mallory won his first match 6-0, 7-6 against Kirsten Cable of St.

Kitts before losing to Cuban M.Tabares 6-1, 6-3 yesterday. Tabares is ranked number two in Cuba and fifth in the CAC.

Evans went down in a close one to Carlos Chaves of Guatemala, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.

Later yesterday, Evans and Billy Way were beaten in the doubles by Alvarez and Caceres of Honduras 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. That leaves the three-man team to play in the Nations Cup later this week. It is a team competition, which involves two singles and a doubles and is best two-of-three.

The men's and women's hockey teams also lost opening matches on Saturday. The women went down 2-0 to Mexico and the men were beaten 4-0 by Venezuela.

Last night, the women played their second match against Jamaica in San Juan, facing a must-win situation if they are to keep their medal hopes alive.

Jamaica beat Barbados 2-0 while Cuba edged by Trinidad and Tobago in the other women's matches on Saturday. The other result in the Bermuda men's group saw Cuba beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0.

"The ladies played very well and I think the Mexicans were flattered by the 2-0 score,'' said Bermuda coach Chris Cox, who hails from England. "I've been coming to Bermuda the last 13, 14 years and this is the best ladies side I've seen.

"The men played a very accomplished side and had to fight hard to keep in the game. I think I would want to see an improvement in the quality of passing and the speed on releasing the ball.'' The men play their second match against Cuba this morning while the women take on Barbados tomorrow afternoon.

Bermuda's first track involvement will be tomorrow when Kavin Smith takes part in the 10,000 metres. Jennifer Fisher (800 metres) and Terry Lynn Paynter (javelin) will see action on Wednesday.

CHRIS FLOOK