Zarek Wilson
It was a day of mixed fortunes for Caribbean nations on day four of the Commonwealth Youth Games, with most of their medal successes coming in the swimming pool at the National Aquatic Centre and on the track in Trinidad and Tobago, on Tuesday.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Zarek Wilson, was the highlight of the top performers from the region, as he added the men’s 100m butterfly gold to his 50m backstroke bronze. when he topped a quality field to win in a Junior Games Record of 53.70s. He bettered England’s Nick Finch (53.95s) and South Africa’s Dylan Eaton (54.41s).
Australia’s Mikayla Bird led an Oceanic sweep of the women’s 100m butterfly, as she won in 1:00.15, ahead of compatriot Lillie McPherson (1:00.80) and Amelia Bray (1:01.32) of New Zealand.
Heidi Stoute of Barbados won bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle after she stopped the clock in 4:25.61, behind the Australian pair of Inez Miller (4:14.97) and Erin Allen (4:18.72).
Tyler Melbourne-Smith of Wales proved too good for rivals in the men’s 400m freestyle, as he stopped the clock in 3:54.19, just staving off the challenge of England’s Reece Grady (3:54.74), with another Englishman Harry Wynne-Jones (3:56.29), taking third.
In athletics at Hasley Crawford Stadium, Tianna Springer (53.55s) and Narissa McPherson (54.82s) secured two medals for Guyana when they finished first and third in the women’s 400m final, separated by England’s Charlotte Henrich (53.65s).
Another Guyanese, Malachi Austin, placed second in the men’s 400m in 47.97s, behind Nigeria’s Samuel Ogazi (46.99s), while Alexander Beck (48.20s) of England, won bronze.
Dominica’s Godisha Joseph, placed seventh in the women’s discus throw final with a mark of 32.22 metres, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Ruth Irvine finished down the pack after failing to register a mark.
The event was won by South Africa’s Eli Khunou, who launched the instrument to 49.53m, ahead of Chelsy Wayne (49.39m) of Australia and Cyprus’s Rafaella Aristotelous (42.74m).
Andrew Stone of Cayman Islands topped the men’s long jump, after cutting that sand at 7.70m to win ahead of Temoso Masikane (7.51m) of South Africa.
Teon Haynes of Barbados (7.32m) took bronze, while the Trinidad and Tobago pair of Andrew Steele (7.16m) and Imanni Matthew (7.14m), were fourth and fifth respectively. Another Bajan, Aaron Massiah (6.63m) was 10th.
Guyana’s Attoya Harvey paced 11th in the women’s 1,500m final in 4:45.10, as the Kenyan pair of Nancy Cherop (4:12.28) and Janet Chepkemoi (4:14.24) secured a one-two finish, with England’s Lyla Belshaw (4:16.37), in third.
There was also a Kenya quinella in the men’s 1,500m event courtesy of Jospat Sang Kipkirui (3:37.66) and Andrew Kiptoo Alamisi (3:38.12), as Uganda’s Jacob Sande (3:39.69) took bronze.
Kipkirui’s time was also a new Commonwealth Youth Games record, as it was below the 3:39.80 set by another Kenyan Kumari Taki set in 2015.
South Africa’s Johann Lamberts finished tops in the men’s shot put when he achieved a new Commonwealth Youth Games record of 20.17m, erasing Jamaica’s Kevin Nedrick’s old mark of 20.12m. Robert Deal III (15.99m) of Bahamas and St Lucia’s Denzel Phillips (15.75m), were second and third respectively.
The Para men’s discus F42-44/F61-64 final, was won by South Africa’s Daniel Molobela, who achieved a mark of 26.34m, ahead of Kenya’s Titus Mwonga (20.00m), with Grenada’s Tyler Smith (18.85m) in third.
After earlier going down 22-14 to Trinidad and Tobago in the group stages of the men’s Rugby sevens tournament, Jamaica turned the tables on their Caribbean neighbours with a 12-5 win in the fifth-place playoff.
Scotland topped the men’s competition with a narrow 25-20 win over Fiji, while South Africa claimed bronze with a comprehensive 52-0 beating of Canada.
Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s women also played sixth after losing their fifth-place contest to Wales, who were dominant in a 50-0 victory.
Australia topped the podium after hammering Canada 50-0 in the gold medal game, with Fiji outlasting Kenya 22-10 in the bronze medal contest.
Earlier in triathlon at the Buccoo Beach Facility, Barbados placed fifth in the mixed team super sprint distance. They stopped the clock in 43 minutes and 24 seconds, over two minutes slower than winner Australia, who completed the event in 40 minutes and 58 seconds.
Scotland, who clocked 41 minutes and 23 seconds took silver ahead of Jersey (41 minutes and 37 seconds), a British Crown Dependency situated near the coast of North-West France.
With their accomplishments, the twin-island republic is the highest ranked Caribbean Island on the medal table, as they sit fourth with three gold and one silver. England heads the standing with 19 medals, followed by Scotland with nine, based on quality, while Australia with 15, sits third.
Cayman Islands, the next best Caribbean nation, occupies joint seventh with South Africa on five medals apiece.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Russell defends CPL's contribution to regional cricket but open to suggestions on improvements
With their long-term agreement with Cricket West Indies (CWI) heavily scrutinised by government leaders and cricket stalwarts, chief executive, Pete Russell of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) defended the product’s positive contribution to cricket in the region.
Addressing the gathering on Friday’s final day of the CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, Russell said the CPL is one of CWI’s largest domestic commercial partners.
While noting that CPL contributed significantly to player economic welfare, with nearly US$28 million spent on salaries since the start of the tournament in 2013, Russell, also revealed that cumulative losses, across both the league and franchises for the past 11 years, stand at US$40 million.
“Dennis O’Brien and Digicel have been the principal investors, not only investing in the league from day one but they also spent money on sponsorship and media rights. The franchises have also pumped in significant money, money that helps pay players and coaches, as well as investing in local businesses around the region that help make the games happen. All the franchises have made losses.
“So, on the positive side, Cricket West Indies has been paid close to US$17 million in sanction fees, so over the past 12 years CPL would be one of CWI’s largest domestic, commercial partners. Caribbean players have taken home US$27.7 million in player salaries since the tournament’s inception, all paid for by the franchises,” Russell declared during the event held in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Each year, it takes US$25 million to run this tournament over five weeks. CPL and the franchises bear all these costs. There is no financial burden on CWI or the territorial boards, so the risk is 100 per cent ours.
“So that is our starting point each and every year. So as you can imagine, the commercial challenges are considerable just to break even,” he added.
Russell’s response came as government leaders and West Indies legend Sir Clive Lloyd, suggested that the 50-year contract between CPL and CWI be re-negotiated.
The issue of the league’s ownership was also called into question, as they view was largely expressed that there would potentially be more development and earnings for players, if CWI controlled the tournament.
But, Russell, a member of the CPL management team rebutted.
“What is interesting is that other leagues around the world are following the lead of CWI. They are also looking for third-party investors to help fund their leagues. The English Cricket Board are in the process of selling The Hundred, the Australian Cricket Board are courting outside investors for the Big Bash, Cricket South Africa sold all their rights to host broadcaster Supersport, and the new American Major League Cricket is 100 per cent privately owned,” Russell shared.
“In time, only the IPL will end up being 100 per cent owned by its domestic board and that is simply because they can afford to do so. So, trust me when I say, ownership isn’t everything, and smart stewardship and partnership can yield better results. But of course, we’re always happy to listen to any suggestions on how we can improve things,” he ended.
Bayern star Kane scores 400th senior goal
Harry Kane surpassed the 400-goal mark for his senior career as his double helped Bayern Munich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
Kane moved within one of the milestone as he put Bayern 1-0 up after just nine minutes, coolly finishing from close range after Konrad Laimer's pass had set him up.
Then, after Frankfurt levelled through Hugo Ekitike, Kane slotted home a penalty with typical aplomb following a foul on Thomas Muller to move himself onto 400 career goals and ultimately lead Bayern to victory.
Kane scored 280 of his goals in 435 appearances for Tottenham, overtaking Jimmy Greaves to become the club's all-time leading scorer when he netted for the 267th time in Spurs colours against Manchester City last February.
His tally of 213 Premier League goals, meanwhile, puts him just 47 behind the competition's all-time leader Alan Shearer, who scored 260 times for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.
Kane is also the most prolific player in England's history, his 62 goals for the Three Lions coming in 89 international appearances.
He memorably missed the chance to surpass Wayne Rooney's previous record of 53 when he blazed a penalty over the crossbar in the Three Lions' quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup, only to clinch his place in history in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy three months later.
The very first goal of Kane's senior career came in League One during a loan spell with Leyton Orient as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in January 2011.
That was the first of five goals Kane scored in O's colours, while he also netted nine times in a loan spell with Millwall in 2011-12 and twice during a stint with Leicester City the following season.
Mottley renews call for Windies women to be treated equally to male counterparts
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has once again encouraged Cricket West Indies (CWI) to invest and reward the region’s female cricketers in the same manner as the men.
Mottley, who first made the call last year, used the platform on Thursday’s opening day of the CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, to once again lobby for more attention to be paid to women’s cricket.
“It is the young people and I’m happy that finally it is not just boys, but boys and girls who will become the men and women who can become these global citizens with Caribbean roots. My heart filled with pride this week when Hayley Matthews was heralded by Wisden as the T20 Cricketer of the Year, and it did so because Mr. President, when you and I first met when you took over, it was actually International Women’s Day, March 8, and I asked you then to start the journey of removing the discriminatory practices between men and women,” Mottley said at the event in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Practices that go as far as the quality of the coverage and the camera covering the game, meaning that it becomes less alluring to those who may not be fully engaged purely because when you look at IPL and you look at the women playing cricket in many other jurisdictions it just doesn’t even look the same. That cannot be a metaphor for our own development and the fact and the obligation of removing the discrimination that exists between men and women’s cricket is absolutely critical,” she added.
Mottley declared her belief that the time was right for a historic mixed-gender cricket game to be played in the region.
“I have said to you, and I offer you now publicly again, that Kensington Oval, that iconic ground, could be a location where we break new ground again in history by having a mixed-gender game, recognizing that in the Olympics you’re going to soon have mixed gender relays and we don’t need to wait on others to lead us, but we can resume the leadership in ensuring that as the game has evolved from Test, to 50-over, to T20, to the increase in women’s cricket, that ultimately that will soon be the next step,” she shared.
On that note, the Prime Minister, pointed out that it was also important that opportunities be created for not only male and female cricketers, but for persons who have skills in other areas.
“We have an obligation to be able to level the field by the investments that we have to make in this sport, recognizing that not all may make the team and wear that maroon, but all can participate at different levels to make a living," Mottley noted.
“Whether it is exporting persons to help in coaching across the world…whether it is through the ability of us to have as many of our youngsters play. Whether it is in the creation of the supply of world class and first-class umpires, whether it is in people who are in the business of keeping the field, the outfield and the pitches in good form, or in the ability to sell pitches to the United States of America instead of them buying from Australia. Whatever it is, we must plan now the careful investment that will allow us to see this as a viable productive and economic sector," she ended.
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