Frustrated by recurring injuries that have stifled his ambition and cut his progress off at the knees, 2013 World U18 Champion Martin Manley has opted for retirement at the age of 24.

Fedrick Dacres, the 2019 World Championship discus silver medalist said he is not satisfied but thankful following his season-best throw that earned him victory at the 2021 Tucson Elite Classic in Arizona on Thursday.

Justin Burrowes overcame three bogeys to shoot a one-over-par 73 and assume the early lead at the Alliance National Golf Championships at the Caymanas Golf Club on Thursday.

Burrowes also had three birdies and an eagle on the day that gave him a one-shot lead over William Knibbs. Owen Samuda had a 75 while Zandre Roye shot a 76 to be tied with Mark Newnham. Sean Morris and Shamar Wilson are both tied on 78.

Burrowes said he was happy with his first-round score even though he bogeyed the last two holes to end the round a stroke above par.

"Today was pretty good.  I knew that I had to post a good number to keep myself in the tournament which I felt like I did today,” he said.

“Didn't putt as well as I wanted to but there are still a lot of positives to build on going into the next three days.  I feel like I played well and there is a lot to build on and with the conditions being tough, it's always good to hit the ball well which I feel like I did today and I look forward to the next couple of days."

Meanwhile, many-time women’s champion Jodi Munn-Barrow led juniors Samantha Azan and Winni Lau with an even-par 72.  She was also pleased with the day's play.

"(I am) very happy with today's round, didn't make a lot of mistakes which was good because the course was playing very tough.  Conditions were hard, so overall happy, still have two more days to go so I have to focus on day two and day three so and hopefully the outcome will be good," she said.

In the Ladies 13 - 24 category, Valerie Grant had a score of 101 while Suzan White shot 106.

In the Men Senior 0-12 category, Vikram Dhuman leads with an 80 and is followed by Tony Allison (82), Nigel Davy (84) and Dave Cameron (87).

In the Men 7-12, Thajae Richards shot 88 while Richard White had 97.

The Men Super Senior 0-12 is led by former JGA president Wayne Chai Chong (79) and is followed by Teddy Alexander (80), Robert Chin (81), Stephen Chang (81) and Bert Tomlinson (82).

 Desmond Brown scored a 97.

The golfers will take to the Caymanas Golf Course at 7:30 am today for the second day of the championship.

After a 14-month hiatus, football resumes in the land of wood and water with the Jamaica Premier League is set to kick off spectator free on Saturday, June 26, with the final scheduled for Sunday, September 26, 2021.

Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association of Jamaica, Chris Williams, made the announcement earlier today during a Zoom press conference and which was attended by the main stakeholders including Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports Olivia Grange as well representatives of team sponsors, presenting sponsors Digicel and broadcast partners Sportsmax Ltd.

Williams revealed that a total of 66 matches are expected to be played during the preliminary round of the competition where each of the 12 teams will play each other once. Matches will be played in double-headers on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. 

At the end of the round, the teams will be separated into two tiers. The bottom six teams will play each other in a round-robin format for points that will determine rank.

Meanwhile, the top two teams will automatically advance to the semi-finals while the remaining four will play for the remaining two spots.

The semi-finals will take over two legs with the team with the better aggregate advancing to the finals.

No team will face relegation this season.

Four venues have been approved for matches with the National Stadium and Sabina Park being the preferred venues. Should there be a scheduling conflict, Williams explained, Stadium East and the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus will be used to stage matches.

In relation to player and personnel safety, players and support staff will be tested for the Covid-19 virus in the days leading up to matches.

Minister Grange revealed that there is a plan is to have all players vaccinated.

Further announcements are planned to unveil team sponsors and uniforms as well as the fixture schedule.

The blockbuster women’s 100m clash scheduled for this Sunday, at the Müller Grand Prix Diamond League meet, in Gateshead, will feature three of the six fastest women ever to run over the distance.

In what many predict could be a preview to the Olympic Games later this summer, Jamaican speed queens Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah will finally face red-hot American Sha'Carri Richardson, the early-season favourite, for the first time this year.

Historically, as far as the speed record book is concerned, the early season clash could be one of mammoth proportions.  The trio are not only three of the six fastest women alive, but also the only ones still active on the all-time speed list.

Fraser-Pryce holds the fourth-fastest time ever recorded over the distance at 10.70, set in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2012.  Her compatriot, Thompson-Herah, matched that identical time, at the same venue, in 2016 and is joint-fourth on the list.  Richardson joined the exclusive list last month with her clocking of 10.72, recorded in Florida, making her the sixth-fastest of all time.

The times are only bettered by Marion Jones (10.65), Carmelita Jeter (10.64), and Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49), a trio of American sprinters who are no longer active.

Richardson has of course set the season marker with her burst of speed last month, but Thompson-Herah is not far behind having registered 10.78 in Clermont.

The trio are, however, not the only big names in the field with Great Britain’s fastest woman Dina Asher-Smith and Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare also set to face the starter.  Another Jamaican, who will also line up in the blocks, Natasha Morrison, is also in fine form this season having recorded the third-fastest time, 10.87, last month in Florida.

In addition to just the times, there will be plenty of pedigree on display, between them Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah have claimed 7 of the last 9 major games 100m Olympics and World Championship titles.  The only exceptions to that dominance being the 2011 World Championships, which was won by Jeter, and the 2017 World Championships, which was won by another American Torrie Bowie.

Also scheduled to take part in the meet are world long jump champion Tajay Gayle, world triple jump silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts, and world shot put silver medallist Danniel Thomas-Dodd.

Jamaican Olympian Neville Myton died today after a prolonged battle was cancer. He was 74.

Jamaica-born Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has signed a multi-year boot deal with New Balance that includes support for disadvantaged children in the country of his birth and other communities in the United Kingdom.

Learning from the mistakes made during the indoor season has resulted in a new personal best in the long jump for Carey McLeod this past weekend when he became the 2021 SEC Outdoor champion.

The Jamaica Football Federation has offered its congratulations to former Reggae Boy Wes Morgan, whose side Leicester City defeated a star-studded Chelsea 1-0 to win the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday.

Youri Tielemans’ long-range strike in the 63^rd minute was enough to give the Foxes a 1-0 victory over their more celebrated rivals.

“We are extremely happy for Wes,” said JFF President Michael Ricketts. “He has been a great soldier for Leicester City and a willing servant for Jamaica. There is no better way to bow out of the professional game than with a prestigious trophy. We wish nothing but the very best for him in the future.”

Morgan hinted at retirement following Saturday’s victory that gave Leicester City their first-ever hold on the trophy.

“Nothing’s been announced yet, I need to discuss it with the club, but I don’t think I’ve got too many more miles on the clock, we’ll say that,” said Morgan who played the last eight minutes of the match after being out with a back injury since December.

 “I wasn’t sure if I was going to make the squad. The gaffer asked me if I could make it on the bench and I said if I’m needed for the last 10 minutes, I’ll be available. We were 1-0 up and the last thing I expected a week ago was to be playing again, but I came on and now I have won the FA Cup.”

The FA Cup is the second major trophy captain Morgan has won with Leicester City. He lifted the English Premier League with the club in 2016.

Morgan made 30 appearances for the Reggae Boyz between 2013 and 2016.

Olympic champion Omar McLeod and Britany Anderson won in impressive fashion at the American Track League meet in California on Saturday.

Jamaica College (JC) captured the ISSA Grace/Kennedy boy’s champs title, while Edwin Allen reclaimed the girls crown, as the competition came to close at the National Stadium on Saturday.

In the end, JC finished with 328.5 points, comfortably clear of second-place Kingston College (KC) who finished with 313.  It was KC who began the fifth and final day in front but, predictably JC took the lead by midday and in the end sealed the title with two events to spare.

Calabar claimed third spot with 241.5, St Elizabeth Technical was next on 181, while St Jago closed out the top 5 with 129.

For the girls, Edwin Allen wrapped up a performance in which they rarely trailed.  The eventual champions finished on 340 points, well clear of second-place St Jago who ended on 309.5, third place went to Hydel High on 301, Holmwood was next with 160.5 and Vere Technical 5^th with 160.5.

The team sped to a new record in the Class 2 4x100m.  Anchored by Tiana Clayton, the team recorded a time of 44.81. Clayton was securing her third gold of Champs 2021. The team beat the old mark of 44.88.

Aliyah Clarke, Tia Clayton, who false-started in the 100m, and Serena Cole were the other team members.

St. Jago won both boys’ and girls’ Class I 4x100m finals.

Jamaica international and Bayer Leverkusen winger, Leon Bailey, will be out of action for the rest of the season after suffering a broken toe.

The 23-year-old sustained the injury after a collision early in the match but continued to play until halftime when he was withdrawn.    

The player then missed the team’s midweek training session, with later scans confirming that the midfielder had fractured the digit.

Bayer Leverkusen head coach Hannes Wolf confirmed on Friday that the player would not return for the season.  The diagnosis meant that Bailey missed the player’s match against Union Berlin on Saturday, a 1-1 draw, and the club’s final game against Dortmund.

"He will not be able to play again [this season]," Wolf told reporters ahead of Leverkusen's game against Berlin.

The winger was not expected to suit up for his country during the international break, due to contractual issues and it remains to be seen how long he will be out of action.

In total, Bailey has scored 15 goals this season and provided 10 assists in a solid campaign for Leverkusen who are fighting for a place in European football next season.

Elizabeth Palmer, the mother of Jamaican elite athlete Akeem Bloomfield, died on Thursday morning after a three-year battle with breast cancer.

Bloomfield, a finalist in the 400m at the 2019 Doha World Championships, had announced three weeks ago that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer in 2018, but only just revealed her condition to her children last month.

Bloomfield and his sister Kaydene Wright launched a GoFundMe account hoping to raise USD$65,000 to assist with the cost of surgery on her spinal that had been compromised by cancer that had also spread to other parts of her body.

Alas, it was in vain as Palmer died early Thursday.

“Words can’t express the feelings of loss and pain me and my family are going through right now. Unfortunately, my mother lost her battle against cancer yesterday and I would give anything just to have one more moment with her,” the grieving athlete posted on Instagram today.

“She was more than just my mom, she was my motivation and my best friend.

“I would like to thank all those who donated, whispered a prayer or just had her and my family in your thoughts.”