The local Track & Field community is in collective mourning after the passing of John Messam.

Messam passed away at 61 on Sunday after a long battle with illness.

The Calabar High School Old Boy was an IT professional, working as an Oracle Database Administrator at the Porth Authority for 22 years.

At the same time, Messam was a respected Track & Field coach, specializing in hurdles events.

A former Florida International University and Seton Hall University student, Messam was also the founder of Hurdles Crew Jamaica, an organization, which was created to enhance the lives of at-risk youth by allowing them to engage in voluntary work at Track & Field meets each year.

Messam was often the man to who Track & Field coaches would send their hurdlers when they needed someone to fix their technique.

Funeral arrangements will be made at a later date.

West Indies U19s went down by 18 runs in the first of their four Youth One-Day-Internationals against South Africa U19s in St. Vincent.

Winning the toss and choosing to field first, the young Windies were excellent in their bowling effort, restricting the South Africans to 146 all out off 34.2 overs.

Opener Jade Smith top scored for South Africa U19s with 34 from 43 balls while his opening partner Ethan Cunningham got 30 from 44 balls.

They were the only two batsmen to pass 20 as left-arm spinner Anderson Mahase was the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies U19s with figures of 4 for 33 from his 10 overs, while off-spinner Onaje Amory and left-arm spinner Jaden Carmichael took three wickets each.

Despite a top score of 39 off 33 balls including four fours and three sixes from vice-captain Giovonte Depeiza, the West Indies U19s had a disappointing batting display in reply, only managing 128 all out from 34.3 overs.

Captain Ackeem Auguste was the second-highest scorer with 27 from 43 balls, while Teddy Bishop also supported with 24 from 44 balls against 3-36 from Dewald Brevis from his 7.3 overs and 2-5 from Andile Simelane off three overs.

The Windies U19s will be looking to rebound in the second match of the series on Tuesday.

Jamaican Cyclist Llori Sharpe has made history by signing a one-year contract with German cycling team Canyon-SRAM Generation.

The former St. Andrew High School track & field athlete, who first came to prominence nationally as a triathlete, is the first Jamaican cyclist to sign with a team in Europe.

She won several awards as a triathlete, including the RJR Gleaner VMBS Youth Award, and represented the country in the event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Sharpe is one of 239 riders from around the world to sign with the developmental cycling team and the contract, which takes effect on January 1, 2022, will see her participating in training camps with world tour riders as of January 16.

“Well, I’m obviously elated, excited, overjoyed, all those adjectives and I’m definitely looking forward to what is to come next year and I do think this is a step in the right direction, not just for me but for local cycling and regional cycling. I believe we can look forward to bigger and better things as time progresses,” Sharpe said in an interview with Television Jamaica Sports.

The 21-year-old, who is presently reading for a Degree in Sports Science at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus, pointed to how her recent move will improve her cycling.

“I think this opportunity will provide me with the platform for greater exposure and greater developmental cycling experience. I’m definitely looking forward to what’s to come,” she said.

Sharpe will be based in Germany but will be traveling across Europe during her attachment and is expected to leave the island after the Christmas holidays.

West Indies U19 head coach Floyd Reifer is happy with his team’s preparations ahead of the start of their four Youth One-Day-International series against South Africa U19s on Sunday in St. Vincent.

“The team has settled in very well. The last couple of net sessions we had were very good, especially yesterday’s session, where we had a very good gym session in the morning before we went into the nets in the afternoon. I thought the bowlers bowled aggressively, hitting their lines and lengths very hard. The batters are doing very well and we’re still making sure they get in their drills to practice the shots that they want to play in the game so all is going well,” Reifer said.
Reifer noted that the quality of the pitches they practiced on got better as time went on.

“The first day the pitches were a bit slow, obviously, because it was short notice and the guys didn’t have a lot of time to prepare the pitches but yesterday, they were very good for bowling and batting so the boys were happy,” Reifer added.
The former Barbados and West Indies batsman also spoke about how his players are coping with the pressure of playing in a home World Cup.
“These youngsters understand what and who they represent. They know they represent the millions of people in the Caribbean and the millions of people that follow West Indies cricket around the world as well so they know what they’re playing for…they know the importance of the World Cup,” he said.

Reifer says the players have shown a better understanding of what it takes to be elite athletes as time has gone on.
“They’ve been preparing very well mentally, physically, and skillfully. Even off the field, they’re eating better, they’re hydrating better so they understand the importance of being elite athletes. I think they’re on the right road and the right path in terms of understanding. They’ve come a long way in terms of where we started in January to where we are now.” Reifer said while going on to commend them on their noticeable maturity as youngsters.
“There’s vast improvement and vast development. It’s good to see that these youngsters have adapted and adjusted to the lifestyle of being a professional. The conversations that they’re having with each other are very mature conversations so I’m very happy to hear that as well. All in all, we’re doing well and continuing to prepare,” he said.

Reifer finally spoke about a focus on the tactical aspects of the game in the few weeks leading up to the World Cup.
“We’re focusing a lot more now on the tactical side of the game. Focusing a lot more on game awareness and guys understanding their roles. Even in the discussions that we’ve had over the last two days, they understand their roles and responsibilities within the team. They understand about having that killer instinct and positive mindset to go out there and do well,” Reifer said.

The West Indies U19s first match in the World Cup will be against Australia U19s at Providence in Guyana on January 14, 2022.
They will compete in Group D alongside Australia U19s, Scotland U19s, and Sri Lanka U19s.

The communities of Paradise and Norwood, in Montego Bay, experienced some Christmas cheer as the destinations for Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams’ 2nd annual Christmas Treat on Thursday.

300 children in the communities were gifted toys and food items from her sponsors Digicel and Grace Foods.

Transportation for the gifts was provided by KIG Jamaica.

The 19-year-old was a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning Women’s 4x100 team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, running a blistering first leg to help the team achieve a national record of 41.02.

Williams also won the sprint double at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland with times of 11.16 in the 100m and 22.50 in the 200m, her current personal best.

Her 100m personal best stands at 10.97 done in Florida in June this year.

Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited today signed a historic agreement establishing themselves, along with Trinidad’s Arima Racetrack, as the first two Caribbean Track and Pool Operators to participate in The Caribbean Pool. 

The Caribbean Pool is a Caribbean inter-island commingling platform that allows for Caribbean Tote operators to bet into each other, thereby creating bigger pools, bigger profits for its member partners, and most importantly, bigger payouts to its punters. 

The Pool will also facilitate greater cooperation and participation between the Caribbean Pool Operators with the aim of growing local racing both regionally and internationally.

 Chairman of SVL Gary Peart outlined what this agreement means for the company. 

“As we have been able to do for many of our other SVL brands, our goal for SVREL in 2022 is to continue our revenue growth through local, regional and international expansion. The Caribbean Pool aligns perfectly with our vision for the company and as such we are happy to participate as lead partner,” he said. 

With the two largest regional racetracks onboard and an expectation that the Barbados Turf Club will sign on as early as January 2022 and the Royal St Lucia Turf Club joining in as soon as they resume racing in 2022, the Caribbean Pool is set to delight Caribbean racing fans. 

Founder of The Caribbean Pool Kimani Robinson of the Kisero Group also reacted to the agreement.

 “Our vision was to create a new and exciting regional simulcast portal that would generate greater returns for the Caribbean track and pool operators as well as their punters,” Robinson added. 

Robinson, who noted that he first discussed the idea with SVL’s Chairman Peart where both men hammered out the constructs of the legal and technical structure required to make the platform a reality, added that regional merging is the future of horse racing in the Caribbean. 

“Regional commingling is the future of Caribbean horse racing. A regionally commingled platform will create greater relevance and awareness for the sport which means greater economic benefits for all. There is no reason why the Caribbean Pool shouldn’t replicate for horse racing what West Indies Cricket did for regional cricket,” he said. 

In terms of awareness, The Caribbean Pool has formed an alliance with the perfect regional media partners, the Caribbean's Home of Champions, SportsMax, who have agreed to become the home of all things Caribbean Pool and Caribbean Horse Racing.  

SportsMax CEO Nicolas Matthews confirmed that “racing fans will be in for a treat as SportsMax beefs up its Caribbean horse racing coverage via the Caribbean Pool. Given our regional strength, especially in the participating Caribbean Pool countries being contemplated and our ambition of providing our audiences with more of what they want, the Caribbean Pool is a perfect fit for us”. 

Along with coverage on their linear channels SportsMax and SportsMax2, SportsMax will include a dedicated channel within the SportsMax App called "SportsMax Racing" that will provide most of the Caribbean Pool’s racing content. 

“Our team has worked side by side with the Kisero Group for months in making the Caribbean Pool a reality,” commented SVREL CEO Lorna Gooden. 

“We are aggressively on a growth path for 2022 and though we have made significant headway in simulcasting our content internationally, we believe that regional growth for us will be faster and more responsive due to existing familiarity,” Gooden added, before expanding further on what the agreement demonstrates. 

“This agreement is a further demonstration of the commitment and drive of the Board and management at Caymanas Park to expand the product offering available to our punters, to promote and establish Caymanas Park as the horseracing mecca of the Caribbean,” she said. 

The Caribbean Pool is set to start in short order and is hoping to get all clearances and approvals granted for a soft launch over the Christmas holidays.

The appropriately named Jaffna Kings, the team of West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales, continue to reign supreme after defeating the Galle Gladiators by 23 runs in Thursday’s final to claim their second Lankan Premier League title.

The Kings took first strike and got off to a good start thanks to openers Avishka Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.  Gurbaz was the first to go in the sixth over for 35 with the score at 56-1.

Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore then joined Fernando and the two put on a further 63 runs before Fernando was dismissed by Nuwan Thushara for a top score of 63 from 41 deliveries.

The score at Fernando’s dismissal was 119-2 off 12.4 overs when Shoaib Malik came to the crease to join Kohler-Cadmore.  The pair put on a further 62 runs before Malik was dismissed in the 19^th over for 23 off 11 balls with the score at 181-3 off 18.2 overs.

Kings captain Thisara Perera strode to the crease to give them a big finish along with Kohler-Cadmore to post a daunting 201-3 off their 20 overs, with Kohler-Cadmore finishing not out on 57 from 41 balls and Perera finishing with 17 off 9 balls.

Thushara and Samit Patel were the best bowlers on the day for the Gladiators, bowling their four overs with figures of 1-32 and 1-33, respectively.

The reply from the Gladiators got off to a spectacular start with openers Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka racing to 63-0 at the start of the fifth over before Gunathilaka was dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga for a blazing 54 off just 21 balls.

Things went from bad to worse for Galle as Australian batsman Ben Dunk was dismissed by Hasaranga off the very next ball for a duck, leaving them 63-2 from 4.3 overs.

Mohammed Hafeez then joined Mendis at the crease to attempt to stabilize the innings.  He didn’t last long as he was run out in the sixth over for 10 from six balls, leaving Galle now 84-3 from 6.2 overs.

Mendis was now joined at the wicket by captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa and the pair put on a further 29 runs before Rajapaksa was dismissed for 14 from 16 balls to leave them 113-4 from 10.4 overs.

Mendis was finally dismissed in the 14^th over for 39 off 28 balls to leave the team 129-5 from 13.1 overs.

Dhananjaya Lakshan and Pulina Tharanga were then both dismissed in quick succession by Chatarunga de Silva to leave the score at 143-7 from 15.5 overs.

Samit Patel, who came to the crease at the fall of Rajapaksa’s wicket, made a solid 22 from 20 balls before he became the eighth wicket on the last ball of the 18^th over.

The Gladiators ended their reply 178-9 off 20 overs to fall short by 23 runs.  Wanindu Hasaranga was the pick of the bowlers for the Kings with 2-30 from his four overs.

Seales took 1-36 from his three overs for the Kings.

Clarendon College became the fourth and final team to advance to the semi-finals of the 2021 DaCosta Cup football competition on Tuesday after recording a 3-1 win over McGrath High at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) to finish with a perfect nine points from their three games in Zone 4.

Both DaCosta Cup semi-finals will be played at 3:00 pm on January 12 with Dinthill Technical taking on Mannings High School at the Montego Bay Sports Complex while Garvey Maceo will do battle with Clarendon College at STETHS.

Meanwhile, Manchester High beat Cornwall College 2-1 at Green Pond in Tuesday’s other Zone 4 encounter to finish second in the zone with six points and advance to the Ben Francis Cup Knockout.

Manchester High and Cornwall College join Edwin Allen, Christiana High, Munro College, Vere Technical, STETHS and Frome Technical in the Ben Francis Cup.

Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has roped in another award on the back of her stellar 2021 season.

The 29-year-old sprinter was on Wednesday named the Track and Field News Female Athlete of the Year.

Thompson-Herah was voted the winner of the award by a 35-member international voting panel of the highly-respected track and field magazine, narrowly edging Venezuela's Olympic triple jump gold medalist and world-record holder, Yulimar Rojas.

The remainder of the top-five in voting included Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan, American 400m Hurdler Sydney McLaughlin and Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon.

During her history-making season, Thompson-Herah became the first woman to win the 100m, 200m sprint double at consecutive Olympics, winning the 100m in a time of 10.61, an Olympic record, and the 200m in 21.53 in Tokyo in July.

She would go even faster in the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in August, recording a 10.54-second clocking, the second-fastest time in history.

Thompson-Herah was also named World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year and the British Journal Athletics Weekly’s Female Athlete of the Year this month. She was also named NACAC Female Athlete of the Year and is favoured to be the RJR Sportswoman of the Year for 2021.

Jamaican swimming legend Alia Atkinson has decided to call it a career after her fourth-place finish in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke at the FINA World Short-course Championships in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Atkinson, 33, announced her retirement from the sport in a post on Instagram after completing her races at the championships.

“Not the meet I hoped for but I am happy to say I finished every ounce of swimming talent God gave me, the bottle empty. Many times, I wanted to quit or give up, but I saw it through to the end,” Atkinson said.

The three-time Jamaica Sportswoman of the Year also offered her fans words of wisdom in her farewell message.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of fun and not so fun moments but always remember to make fun memories…they don’t make themselves, take nothing for granted and enjoy each step both the good and the challenging, let go of the negatives of the day, your best changes daily so do the best you can on that day!” Atkinson added.

Atkinson leaves behind a remarkable legacy in the sport, retiring as the current world-record holder (SC) in both the 50m and 100m with times of 28.56 and 1:02.36, respectively.

“Fun fact: I get to retire with my two World Records intact. That’s something I never thought would happen and this last race reminded me just how remarkable my career was,” she said.

Making her competitive debut for Jamaica at the 2004 Athens Olympics as a 15-year-old, Atkinson went on to amass more than 30 medals in international competition.

She won two medals at the Long-course Swimming Championships, 10 at the Short-course Swimming Championships including four gold, three at the Commonwealth Games, two at the Pan Am Games and 14 at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games including 11 gold.

She offered a last message of gratitude to those who have supported her throughout the years.

“Many thanks to all that have supported me, cheered for me and followed me these past decades. It meant a lot,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson retires as one of Jamaica and the Caribbean's most successful athletes in the history of the sport whose contributions will be talked about for generations.

Trinidad &Tobago’s Dylan Carter won the Caribbean’s first medal at the 2021 FINA Short-course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Carter swam a national record 21.98 to win silver in the Men’s 50m butterfly behind Brazil’s Nicholas Santos, who recorded 21.93 for gold.

Italy’s Matteo Revolta was third in 22.02.

This is Carter’s second Short-course World Championships medal after winning bronze in the 50m butterfly at the 2018 championships in Hangzhou.

Carter, a 2020 Olympian, dedicated his silver medal performance to his parents.

“This one is for my parents who have been my endless support through thick and thin,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bahamian Joanna Evans contested her second final at the meet, placing seventh in the 400m Freestyle in a national record 4:01.09 seconds, three days after her eighth-place finish in the 200m Freestyle final.

The West Indies Rising Stars U19s will continue their preparation for the upcoming U19 World Cup with a Youth One-Day International Series against South Africa U19s in St. Vincent & the Grenadines starting later this month. Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced on Monday that the teams will play four 50-over matches from December 26 to January 3 at Arnos Vale Stadium and Cumberland playing field.

The teams arrived in St. Vincent late on Monday for the series that will be used by both teams as preparation for the Men’s ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup to be hosted in the Caribbean from January 14-February 5.

West Indies Head Coach Floyd Reifer views these matches as an important way to initially see how players react to different scenarios in a competitive setting.

“It’s great for us to have these matches as part of the build-up to the World Cup. We are really looking forward to this series against South Africa, as we are at the stage where it is important for the squad to play together, to see players in various roles, see how they respond to situations and how well they execute the plans we put in place,” Reifer said.

He also stressed the importance of the matches in facilitating good team chemistry and culture ahead of the World Cup.

“It is for us to also make sure we get the team going well together and have synergy, so the players fully understand each other. This is very crucial for us as we look to build the team energy and the team culture. I can’t stress enough how vital these matches are, and we will be taking them very seriously,” Reifer said.

He thanked the parties involved in making the series possible.

“We want to thank the Government and Cricket Association of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for working with our operations and medical teams over the past week to put things in place for us to get some much-needed playing time in the middle and preparations,” he said.

The ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup will feature 16 teams in 48 matches.

They are defending champions Bangladesh, England, Canada and the United Arab Emirates from Group A, with debutants Uganda placed in Group B alongside India, South Africa and Ireland. Group C comprises Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea and Group D sees host West Indies, Australia, Sri Lanka and Scotland.

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson narrowly missed out on a medal in the Women’s 100m breaststroke at the FINA World Short-course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Saturday and Sunday were good days for residents of the communities of both Waterhouse and Ewarton as they were the sites of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Pocket Rocket Foundation 14^th annual Christmas Treat.

Residents of Fraser-Pryce’s hometown of Waterhouse were the beneficiaries on Saturday and Ewarton, the hometown of her husband, Jason Pryce, enjoyed the festivities on Sunday.

The treat, which wasn’t held on Boxing Day for the first time in 14 years, was aided by a team of sponsors and volunteers who provided the residents with a variety of goodies ranging from food bags to toys and treats.

"We’re going to be giving our adults food bags courtesy of Grace Kennedy and then for the kids, they’ll be receiving toys and other goodies from Excelsior, Digicel, Nike and others,” said Fraser-Pryce, who also thanked Toyota Jamaica for providing transportation for the event.

The nine-time World Championships gold medallist said the aim was to bring some joy to the communities in the midst of a difficult year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also thanked her sponsors for helping to make it happen.

“It has been a crazy year for all of us because of the pandemic and I’m hoping that as a foundation we can bring some cheer to the community of Waterhouse and also Ewarton so I want to thank all my sponsors for what they do for me and my community year after year. We could not have done it without you guys, so thank you so much,” Fraser-Pryce said.

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson advanced to the final of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Atkinson was the third fastest qualifier into the semi-finals after Atkinson swimming 1:04.88 in Heat 6 to advance.

She then lined up in semi-final 2 where she swam 1:04.26 to finish second and advance as the fourth fastest qualifier to the final.

The final is scheduled for Monday.

Atkinson is seeking to add to her four previous medals at World Short Course Championships, including three gold and one silver.