Damien Matthews and David Maycock’s medal aspirations suffered a major setback after they made a disappointing start to the men’s doubles bowling competition at the Pan American Games yesterday.

The Bermuda pair are twelfth out of 16 nations after the first block of six games at the Sports Complex Videna in the San Luis District.

They have an overall score of 2,418 pins, 263 behind Jose Llergo and Arturo Quintero, of Mexico, who are third with 2,681.

Puerto Rico’s Cristian Azcona and Jean Perez lead with 2,919 pins, followed by Jakob Butturff and Nicholas Pate, of the United States, in second with 2,688.

It was a tale of contrasting fortunes for the Bermuda team; Maycock making a promising start with a total of 1,250 whereas Matthews struggled to get to grips with the lanes, which was reflected in his score of 1,168.

Although Maycock admits they have given themselves a proverbial mountain to climb in the second block tomorrow (Saturday), he is adament they can still achieve a respectable finish.

“It was a good start for me but a bad start for Damien, who had some footing problems,” Maycock said.

“We will do better on Saturday. It’s going to be a tall task [climbing the standings], but it’s not impossible.

“We will do our best to get up there and as close to the bronze medal as possible.”

By the time Matthews made the necessary adjustments, with the left-hander improving after the third game, the damage had already been done.

“Unfortunately, I had a bad start; I wasn’t holding up, but I figured out what it was,” Matthews said.

“We have a game plan going into Saturday and know what we need to do to get into the top three. It’s going to be a tall order and we can’t afford to make any more mistakes. Hopefully we can capitilise on other teams’ mistakes.”

Maycock said the pair will not dwell on their slow start and believes they have the experience and knowhow to turn things around.

“Bowling is an up-and-down sport, and you can’t let your bad games get to you,” he said.

“Hopefully the lanes will come into our favour on Saturday. Afterall, everyday is a fishing day but not always a catching day.”

Meanwhile, the Bermuda women’s bowlers are in last place out of 16 nations after the first six-game block of the doubles.

June Dill scored 941 pins and Patrice Tucker notched 1,011 for an overall score of 1,952.

They return to action for the second half of the competition tomorrow (Saturday).