Keithi Cunningham considers himself a lucky man after he unexpectedly got to meet Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, arguably the greatest female sprinter in history.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls ended the 2022 Fast5 Netball World Series without a win following second day losses to England, New Zealand and Uganda.

Overall, the inexperienced unit could only claim a last place finish after losing all five matches and being the only team at the tournament to fail to register a win.

The second and final day of the event began with a 27-32 loss to England, where the team started well but could not maintain its consistency and eventually paid for several costly turnovers.  Things were far less competitive against New Zealand who used the powerplay well to rack up 40 points in an 18-goal win over the Caribbean team.

The loss sent the Jamaicans to the 5^th and 6^th place play-offs against African team Uganda who they had already suffered a loss to on the previous day.  Things did not go better the second time around as the Jamaicans were once again unable to make any inroads against their lesser ranked opponents.  The surprise package of the tournament went to register an impressive 32-10 victory over the struggling Jamaicans and with it the 5^th place spot.  After dominating for most of the tournament Australia ended the event as champions, earning a first world title.

Mark Blake and O’Wayne Lawrence forms Jamaica’s only team competing in the sixth stage of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour that began on Friday in Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic.

Thirty-two teams from the North, Central American and Caribbean volleyball Confederation will battle until Sunday for the best positions as part of the qualification process for the Olympic Games of Paris, France 2024.

Hato Mayor is the sixth leg of nine to be held this year. The previous events were at Aguascalientes, Mexico, Varader, Cuba, La Paz, Baja California (Mexico), Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and Managua, Nicaragua.

Jamaica has selected a 20-man squad devoid of its European-based players for an international friendly against Cameroon at the Stade Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidja in Cameroon on Saturday, November 9.

The local-based members of the delegation are scheduled to leave Thursday from the Sangster International Airport.

Because the match falls outside the FIFA-approved international window, the squad is comprised of players from Jamaica’s local premier league with the rest coming from the American soccer leagues.

According to the JFF, Kemar Lawrence’s availability is yet to be confirmed but he has been named in the squad regardless as there are efforts being made to ensure that he is available.

The full squad is Alwayne Harvey – Mount Pleasant, Colorado Murray – Harbour View FC, Damion Lowe – Inter Miami, Demario Phillips – Mount Pleasant, Devon Williams – Miami FC, Dwayne Atkinson – Cavalier SC, Jahmali Waite – Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Jamoi Topey – Mount Pleasant, Javain Brown – Vancouver Whitecaps, Jourdain Fletcher – NEROCA FC, Kevon Lambert – Phoenix Rising, Lamar Walker – Miami FC, Maliek Howell – Memphis Tigers, Ricardo Thomas – Dunbeholden FC, Richard King – Cavalier SC, Kemar Foster – Waterhouse FC, Kemar Lawrence – Minnesota FC, Peter McGregor – Dunbeholden, Justin McMaster – Minnesota FC, Trivante Stewart – Mount Pleasant.

The number 64-ranked Reggae Boyz heads into this maiden encounter against the Indomitable Lions having one win, two draws and three losses in the last six matches, the last of which was a 3-0 loss to Argentina on September 28.

Cameroon, meanwhile, has a similar record from their last six matches. They lost their last match on September 27, 1-0 to South Korea.

Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake finished third in Major League Soccer’s MVP voting as the player continues to be recognised among the best after an outstanding season to date.

The Jamaica was hoping to be the first goalkeeper to claim the award since legendary USA goalkeeper Tony Meola who won in 2000.  Blake, however, finished behind behind Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar and Austin FC's Sebastián Driussi for the for the 2022 Landon Donovan MVP Award.

The 31-year-old has already claimed fair share of silverware.  Blake became the first player in history to win the Goalkeeper of the Year award on three occasions when he claimed the nomination last week and was also received the Wanamaker Athletic Award.  The Philadelphia Union has turned in a career-high in single-season shutouts this year.

On the back of an excellent season, Blake will also have the opportunity to lift the MLS Cup on Sunday, after leading the team to a 3-1 win over New York City FC 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Championship last week.  Philadephia will face Western Conference champions and 2022 Supporters Shield winners Los Angeles Football Club in Saturday’s final.

Jamaica’s Jaydon Hibbert is among the five nominees for World Athletics’ 2022 Men’s Rising Star Award.

17-year-old former Hydel High sprinter Kerrica Hill has been named among five nominees for the 2022 Women’s Rising Star Award, World Athletics announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The award will recognize this year's best U20 athlete at the World Athletics Awards 2022.

The nominations reflect the many standout performances that the sport has witnessed this year, at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and other events around the world.

In addition to winning the Class Two Girls 100m in a record 11.16 at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in April, Hill also produced a World U18 record 12.77 to win the 100m hurdles at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia in August. She was also a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning and world U20 record setting 4x100m quartet at those championships alongside Serena Cole and the Clayton sisters.

Since then, Hill has gone pro and joined the Elite Performance Track Club, a training group that includes five-time World Championships gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Commonwealth Games 110m hurdles champion Rasheed Broadbell and Commonwealth Games finalist Rushel Clayton as well as World Championships relay medallists Kemba Nelson and Stacey-Ann Williams.

The other nominees are Kenyans Jackline Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich, South Africa’s Mine De Klerk and Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos. Chepkoech won 300m gold at the Commonwealth Games and won the event at the Brussels Diamond League. Cherotich won the 3000m steeplechase at the World U20 Championships and finished third at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. De Klerk won gold and bronze in the shot put and discus, respectively, at the World U20 Championships and had seven of the world’s top 10 U20 shot put performances while Vilagos won gold in the javelin at the World U20 Championships and silver at the European Championships. She also had the 11 best U20 performances of the year.

The winner of the 2022 Women’s Rising Star Award will be selected by an international panel of experts and be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December.

Glenmuir, Cornwall College, William Knibb, Clarendon College, Frome Technical and The Manning’s School all scored wins to kick-off the quarterfinal round of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup on Saturday.

The points were shared in Group 1 as Central High and Manchester played out a 1-1 draw at Brooks Park while there was a goalless draw between Christiana and defending champions Garvey Maceo at Glenmuir.

A Group 2 double-header at Drax Hall saw Cornwall College and William Knibb get wins over Dinthill Technical and Paul Bogle, respectively. Cornwall secured a 2-1 win over the previously unbeaten Dinthill while William Knibb needed just one goal to get past Paul Bogle.

Clarendon College are still unbeaten and were the biggest winners on the day with a 5-0 win over Rusea’s at Foga Road in Group 3. At the Llandilo Sports Complex, Frome Technical got a 2-0 win over York Castle to also remain unbeaten so far this season.

There was a pair of 2-0 wins in Group 4 for Glenmuir and Manning’s over STETHS and Edwin Allen at STETHS and Llandilo Sports Complex, respectively.

Action continues on Tuesday with Manchester facing Christiana at Brooks Park and Central facing Garvey Maceo at Foga Road in Group 1 and William Knibb taking Cornwall College at Drax Hall and Paul Bogle playing Dinthill at York Oval in Group 2.

Jamaica Defence Force Captain Dwayne Ford dethroned Guyana’s Lennox Brathwaite to win the Wogarth Cup as Jamaica won the Team Match by the smallest of margins as the West Indies Full Bore Shooting Council Championship came to an exciting climax at Twickenham Park on Saturday.

Jamaica’s eight-member team were forced to dig deep to hold off a hard-charging Guyana which made the victory satisfying for Jamaica Rifle Association Vice-President Karen Anderson, who was also a member of the winning team.

"Jamaica is positively thrilled to have won the West Indies Cup team match on home soil and defeating Guyana in the process," she said.

"It has been a long slog in trying to beat them over the years and to do it on home soil, in particular, after a really tough tournament. We showed a great level of consistency. There might have been some doubt after the long-range team match the day before where we finished last but it bodes well for the team's confidence how we managed to end the tournament and win that particular cup."

She also reserved special praise for team leader, Captain Ford.

"It is even more heartening when you see Dwayne Ford win the Wogarth Cup which is a tremendous achievement in defeating Lennox Brathwaite, who is a seven-time Wogarth winner. We are on a high and we are just going to build on this going into next year's competition."

Captain Ford, a recently crowned O-Class champion, led his team by example. He and teammate Nicola Guy shot impressively at 300 yards, each scoring perfect scores of 50.4 to give Jamaica an early five-point lead. The home team scored 373.23 over its nearest rivals Antigua and Barbuda with Guyana on 360.16.

Jamaica extended its lead after 500 yards with a score of 379.20 but Guyana eventually narrowed the gap and claimed victory with a score 383.23.

Braithwaite answered the call at 500 yard with score of 50.3 that would prove pivotal at the final range as he and Ford battled for the Wogarth Cup that goes to the top-scoring shooter in the West Indies Cup.

At 600 yards, Jamaica dropped 10 points early on and found themselves in a major shoot-out with Guyana. However, the shooters managed to steel themselves and recovered to score 1114.58 to hold off Guyana who shot a 1113.63. 

In the end, Ford defeated the seven-time champion Brathwaite by 0.1 to take the Wogarth Cup.

Chad Ziadie and Wendy McMaster emerged winners of the recent National Shotgun Champions (NSC) held at the Grand Port Royal Hotel.

Jamaica Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson is eager to see what the team’s new recruits and returning members will offer to the unit ahead of a pair of friendlies against Paraguay next month.

On Wednesday, the Jamaica Football Federation named a 26-player squad, which featured many of the usual suspects.  Also, among, however, was former national team captain Konya Plummer, Shania Hayles who are returning to the squad and young player Zoe Matthews.

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the horizon for next year Donaldson remains in the process of shifting through his options to find the best team.  The return of Plummer, a solid defender who returns to the team from maternity leave and Matthews a solid new prospect should give the coach plenty to think about.

“We have a couple players coming back in like Konya and Shaina who just came back off maternity.  Shaina is far ahead of Konya, we know most likely they’ll be a part of what we are trying to do in the future, so we just brought them in to get familiar with things,” Donaldson said.

“We also have Zoe Matthews a young player, an upcoming player, a Bunny Shaw type of player. I hate to mention that but she’s built like bunny and she has that kind of ability.  So, if we can get her in the fold that would be great,” he added.

Another promising young player that has been included is Shaneil Buckley who has dominated the country’s high school football league.

St. George’s College, Mona High, Charlie Smith and Haile Selassie all booked spots in the quarterfinal round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup on Friday.

St. George’s followed up a 4-1 first leg win over Jonathan Grant on Tuesday with a 3-1 win at Winchester Park on Friday for a 7-2 aggregate win.

Mona High continued their unbeaten run so far this season with a 3-1 win over Tivoli at Jamaica College for a 5-1 aggregate score.

Charlie Smith rebounded from a first leg 1-1 draw with Campion College with a 2-0 win at Stadium East to progress while Haile Selassie got past Excelsior 2-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the second leg at Stadium East.

The other four quarterfinalists will be decided on Saturday. The fixtures and first leg scores are as follows:

Kingston College (0) vs Jose Marti (0) @ Stadium East 3:00pm

Jamaica College (5) vs Norman Manley (0) @Jamaica College

 STATHS (2) vs St. Jago (1) @ Stadium East 1:00pm

St. Catherine (1) vs Wolmer’s (0). @ Spanish Town Prison Oval

Outstanding shooting from their eight-man Long Range Team team helped Guyana land the Milex Cup at the 2022 West Indies Full Bore Championships currently underway at Twickenham Park in Jamaica on Friday.

The shooters from South America aiming at targets at 900 yards were the only team to score over 700 out of a possible 800, with a total of 715.35 to take the title over Canada (682.32), Antigua & Barbuda (655.22). Hosts Jamaica finished fourth with a combined score of 652.16.

Four of their shooters score higher than 90 points during the competition - Sherwin Felicien shot 93.3, Roberto Tewari, 92.7, Peter Persaud, 91.5 and Dylan Fields 90.6 – as Guyana dominated the competition.

However, the best shooter on the day was Antigua & Barbuda’s Anderson Perry who scored 49.1 on the first detail and 48.2 on the second for a combined score of 97.3 out of a possible 100. His teammate Christopher Joseph was also excellent with a score of 96.6.

Karen Anderson was Jamaica’s top shooter with her score of 88.3.

Guyana will go for the sweep on Saturday in the Short Range Match at 300/500/600 yards in which Lennox Brathwaite is defending champion in the Wogarth Cup.

Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake continued to be showered with accolades on the back of an outstanding season for Major League Soccer (MLS) club Philadelphia Union after being presented with the John Wanamaker Athletic Award earlier this week.

Blake made history last week when he became the first player to win the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year honours on three separate occasions.  The Wanamaker award, which has been presented to Philadelphia’s top athletes since 1961, is given to a team or organization which has done the most to reflect credit upon Philadelphia and the team or sport in which they excel.

Behind Blake’s top-class performances in goal the Philadelphia Union have reached the conference final of the MLS Cup, where they will play New York City on Sunday.  The Jamaican custodian delighted in receiving the city’s recognition.

“I am grateful to be recognized by the Philadelphia sports community and honored to accept the Wanamaker Award on behalf of my family, teammates and the entire Philadelphia Union organization,” said Blake. “Throughout my career, I have strived to set an example on and off the field of what it means to be a strong leader and community advocate. I hope that I’ve inspired the future generation of young athletes to work hard and keep chasing their dreams.”

Multiple-time winner Lennox Braithwaite of Guyana won the Grand Aggregate in the individual event at the 2022 West Indies Full Bore Shooting Championships on Thursday. The championship is being held at Twickenham Park in St. Catherine, Jamaica.

Brathwaite, who lamented the pandemic-induced relative lack of preparation coming into the tournament, won with a score of 467.39 out of a possible 480 points. He defeated Emmanuel Gauvin and Avtar Nanrey of Canada as well as compatriots Sherwin Felicien and Ransford Goodluck, who finished in the top five.

Guyana had five shooters in the top 10.

Jamaica’s national champion Dwayne Forde scored 449.30 to finished seventh while Karen Anderson was 17th.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Jordan-Cousins of Barbados scored 436.20 while out-dueling Anderson (435.25) to win the Amazon trophy which goes to the top female shooter. Women shoot against the males on the same targets and use same equipment in the competition.

The competition continued on Friday, October 28, with the team event which comprises a short-range and long range component.

The long-range team match, for the Milex Cup, began on Friday and will be followed by the short-range (300m/500m/600m) team match for the Wogarth Cup.

Braithwaite is the defending champion. The short range team match is Saturday, October 29.