Bermuda will have to overcome host nation El Salvador today if they are to progress in the knockout phase of the CAC Games squash tournament.

The Island team of Nick Kyme, James Stout and Mel Caines lost 3-0 to Mexico on Saturday morning and defeated the Dominican Republic by the same score in the afternoon to place second in Pool B.

The results from the pool matches determined the seedings for the main knockout draw.

Pool A was won by Colombia with Guyana second and Jamaica third, while Pool C was won by Guatemala with El Salvador second and Barbados third. Of the nine countries competing, Colombia and Mexico are the strongest.

Mexico are a formidable team despite losing Eric Galvez who won the men's individual event. Galvez has travelled to India to compete in the junior men's World Championships.

Saturday's matches went according to Bermuda's expectations, although the Island players appeared listless at times.

Kyme, Bermuda's number one, struggled against Mexico's Jorge Balthazar, the match being played at a very deliberate and controlled pace.

Kyme appeared content to let the Mexican control the game and he made numerous errors which enabled Blathazar to win in 29 minutes, 9-1, 9-4, 9-3.

At the number three position the difference in standards was even more pronounced. Mauricio Sanchez kept a very tight grip on the match, allowing Bermuda's Melrindo Caines to serve only twice, Sanchez winning 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 in just 16 minutes.

At the number two spot, James Stout also struggled to upset Marian Aguilar's control.

Serving at 4-8 down in the first game, Stout was sucked into a long rally which ended only when he made an unforced error.

The young Bermudian then went on to save match ball six times before tinning a service return to give the game to the Mexican 9-4 in 17 minutes.

The theme of the second and third games was similar to the first as the Mexican retained control of the rallies. Stout played better in the second game and appeared to have recovered physically, but by the end of that game he again was visibly tired.

In the third game Stout was more error prone as his exertions took their toll on him and Aguilar took the match 3-0 (9-4, 9-5, 9-2) in 45 minutes.

In the afternoon, Kyme had a comfortable 3-0 win (9-3, 9-1, 9-3) in 21 minutes over Manuel Izguierdo of the Dominican Republic.

At third spot Caines made a harder work of Luis Mantano than was warranted, yet he recovered from game ball down in the first two games to win them 10-8, 10-8.

His play improved in the third game which he took comfortably 9-2, the match lasting 34 minutes.

Stout also made heavy weather of his opponent Manuel Novas, saving game ball and taking the game 10-8.

He picked his ideas up in the next two games winning them without the loss of a point and sealing a 3-0 win (10-8, 9-0, 9-0) in 27 minutes.

Bermuda's Sara Lane Wright continued to slide down the leaderboard in the women's CAC laser sailing event in Mexico.

The Islander had been in second position at one stage but after finishing fifth and eighth in races eight and nine she is now seventh on 49 points.

Brett Wright, meanwhile, is 12th in the men's laser division. He finished fourth in race eight but did not finish race nine and has a total of 106 points.

In field hockey, Bermuda's women went down 6-0 to Barbados leaving them bottom of the standings after opening losses to Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico.