Olympic champions Usain Bolt and Jessica Ennis headline the winners of the 2013 Laureus World Sports Awards named at a globally televised Awards Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro today. Bolt was acclaimed Laureus World Sportsman of the Year after his remarkable performance at the Olympics when he repeated his success in Beijing by winning gold medals in all three sprint events in London – 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay. Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: Usain Bolt Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year: Jessica Ennis Laureus World Team of the Year: European Ryder Cup Team Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year: Andy Murray Laureus World Comeback of the Year: Felix Sanchez Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Felix Baumgartner The Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award went to Ennis, who carried the hopes of the British nation in London. Despite the enormous pressure of being one of the first on the track, she dominated the heptathlon and won the gold medal with a British record score of 6,955 pts. British tennis star Andy Murray’s first ever Grand Slam victory, at the US Open, plus an Olympic gold and silver medal in the singles […]
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A 24 man Reggae Boyz squad has been called up for Jamaica ahead of their vital World Cup Qualifiers against Panama on March 22 and Costa Rica on March 26. It includes one new invitee and 2 others. Luton Shelton, Jermaine Beckford and new invitee Lloyd Doyley have been added to the squad for Jamaica’s crucial World Cup Qualifiers at the end of March. 29 year old 6 foot 2 inch striker Jermaine Beckford was called up to Jamaica’s squad vs Mexico however a hamstring injury a week before the encounter threw away his chance of making his debut. However a sturdy rehabilitation has got Jermaine back in the gym and back to training with Huddersfield Town and to get some minutes under his belt before he represents Jamaica. The former Everton FC striker is agile, quick and is a clinical finisher on goal. He is a player that will certainly show CONCACAF that Jamaica has a potent goal scorer on their hands. Expect fireworks from this man. Lloyd Doyley is a 30 year old versatile defender who plays for Watford FC in the Championship in England. Doyley can operate anywhere along the back 4, but he has seen majority of his success as a right back and as a centre half. Doyley also will not have […]
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On March 22 Jamaica will take on Panama at the National Stadium (The Office). This will be their 1st home match of the final round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, also known as the Hexagonal. For Jamaica to guarantee a top 3 spot and automatically qualify for Brazil in 2014, Jamaica must aim to get 18 points to cement and book their tickets to the 20th edition of the FIFA World Cup. The Office has proven to be a fortress for Jamaica in World Cup Qualifiers especially in recent times as Jamaica has won each of their last 7 World Cup Qualifiers at the Office. The streak started against Bahamas in June 2008 and ended most recently against Antigua and Barbuda in October 2012. So Jamaica will be looking to make it 8 games as the country faces Panama in Theodore Whitmore’s 54th game in charge of the Reggae Boyz. The Jamaican national Stadium alongside the Estadio Azteca and Columbus Crew Stadium has proven to be the most daunting venues in the CONCACAF region and with the Reggae Boyz having an asset namely The Office, the Jamaicans will be happy to have an advantage where the crowd support is […]
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Jamaica bulldoze through England to level the Series and force decider in Sheffield Jamaica bounced back from an opening defeat to secure a hard fought win over England in Liverpool this evening and level the International Netball Series heading into the final game on Wednesday. The hosts failed to take the lead in the whole contest and will rue a number of missed chances to get a foot back into the game while the Sunshine Girls showed a renewed passion and physicality to nullify their opponents. It was a lightning start from the Caribbean side as patient work around the circle allowed Jhanielle Fowler to open the scoring. Fowler preferred to start at GS in place of Romelda Aiken who had to settle for a place on the bench. Within a couple of minutes the lead had stretched to 4-0 as Rosie Allison showed some early nerves and rattled the ring. The youngster was starting in place of Joanne Harten and was certainly feeling the pressure early on. The opening goal for the hosts came from Pamela Cookey as Serena Guthrie interlinked with Sasha Corbin to provide the chance for their captain, it was a reversion back to the excellent […]
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A world title fight in Jamaica for the World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title came closer to being a reality when Mexican promoting company, Canelo Promotions, won the purse bid that was held in Panama last Thursday, for the WBA title fight between champion Celestino Caballero and Jamaica’s Nicholas Walters. They were the only promoters to present a bid and the amount they put on the table was the minimum of US$120,000, allowed by the WBA. They presented Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica, as the likely venues and the suggested dates are December 1 or 8, 2012. Stephen Jones, president of the Jamaica Boxing Board, was present at the opening of the bid. The promoters will now present contracts to both fighters, with Caballero offered 75 per cent of the bid, which is US$90,000 and Walters US$25,000. The promoters will give both boxers 15 days to reply to the offers, as they in turn have to send the completed contracts to the WBA in 20 days. If Caballero does not accept the offer, he could be stripped of the title, which would then be declared vacant and the WBA would then name another contender to fight Walters for the vacant […]
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jamaican Olympic champion Usain Bolt is among those joining a group of U.S. track and field athletes fighting a rule that bars Olympians from using their names or likenesses for advertising during the Games. The Track and Field Athletes Association, which includes high-profile American runners such as Sanya Richards-Ross and Bernard Lagat, announced Friday it had added international athletes. The athletes are opposed to Rule 40, an International Olympic Committee rule that prohibits Olympic athletes from advertising in the days leading up to and during the Games. In welcoming Bolt, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 800-meter world record holder David Rudisha and 19 others from around the world, TFAA president Khadevis Robinson said, “in order to grow our sport, we must establish a unified voice across the international community of athletes.” Asked about the issue at the U.S. Olympic Committee assembly Friday, CEO Scott Blackmun said he was sympathetic to what the athletes are trying to do. “We’d like to find ways for the athletes to benefit from their success at the Olympic Games,” Blackmun said. “We also understand there’s a critical need to protect the exclusivity” of the Olympic brand. Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
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Bolt will run 100m at trials … But Olympic champion says JAAA will have to decide on 200m pick Usain Wild-card issue partially solvedBolt has given the selection committee of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) one less problem to worry about, as he has disclosed that he intends to compete in the 100 metres at the National Trials to select Jamaica’s team to next summer’s World Championships to be staged in Moscow, Russia. By virtue of the decision taken by the IAAF Council at its last general assembly in November last year, the overall event winner of the 32 Diamond League events will be granted automatic entry to the World Championships, in the same manner that the defending world champions profit. With Bolt emerging as the overall 100m champion of the recently concluded Diamond League series he, along with defending 100m world champion Yohan Blake, qualified for a bye to the World Championships. Each country is allowed a maximum of four entries in any one event at the World Championships, and so in cases where the defending champion and Diamond League winner are from the same country, only one will be allowed to participate as a wild-card entry, […]
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Herculez Gomez scored off a second-half free-kick as USA got their 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifying campaign back on track with a 1-0 win over Jamaica on Tuesday. Gomez curled in a shot from the right side in the 55th minute for the Americans, who avenged a loss to Jamaica last week and earned three points with Tuesday’s win in front of a crowd of 24,000 at Columbus Crew Stadium. USA, Jamaica, and Guatemala all have seven points atop Group A in the semi-final round of qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The top two teams from each group advance to the final phase of qualifying next year. Guatemala and the United States hold the edge over Jamaica with a superior goal difference. In the other group match, Guatemala defeated Antigua and Barbuda 1-0. USA has two games left in this round as they host Antigua and Barbuda on 12 October, then travel to Guatemala four days later. Jamaica claimed its first-ever win against the United States on Friday with a 2-1 victory in Kingston. The United States dominated the opening half, but failed to convert their chances as the game remained scoreless going into […]
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Hoping to contain the speedy Jamaica, the U.S. national team played a tight diamond midfield formation in a World Cup qualifier against the Reggae Boyz in Kingston on Friday night. The result, perhaps partially due to an off-night by three of the four U.S. middies, was a 2-1 win for Jamaica that puts the U.S. in near-precarious position with three games remaining in the semifinal round. It wasn’t that the fleet Jamaicans ran roughshod through the American defense. The U.S. did not allow Jamaica much of anything in the way of close-range scoring chances, minus the costly fouls by Kyle Beckerman and Jermaine Jones that led to free-kick goals from just outside the penalty area by Rodolph Austin and Luton Shelton. The problem was the creation of chances, or lack of, by the U.S., whose narrow posture produced only two notable crossing attempts from wide positions on Friday. It was compounded by the injury absences of field general Michael Bradley and the always dangerous Landon Donovan. But the Americans hope to change that in the rematch on Tuesday in Crew Stadium. They spent a lengthy portion of an open training session today working on finishing from […]
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