Jamaica continued their march towards another Carifta title winning two of three finals contested on Monday’s final day of competition.
Also, new has emerged that Jamaica will not contest the re-run of the Boys U20 4x100m final that they won on Saturday night at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas. Jamaica won the relay in 39.68 with the Bahamas finishing second in 39.78.
Trinidad and Tobago finished third in 40.82.
On Monday, The Bahamas took gold and silver in the Girls U17 javelin as Kamera Strachan set a new championship record of 46.07m to win gold. Last year’s winner Dior-Rae Scott, who was the previous record holder, struggled to throw beyond 40m in her first two attempts, but was finally able to establish a mark of 45.13m to secure the silver medal.
It was her only throw beyond 40m.
St Lucia’s Naya Jules threw 42.92m to win the bronze medal in what was her only effort beyond the 40-metre mark.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Torian Cavien cleared 1.81m to win the U20 Girls high jump over teammate Deijanae Bruce, who cleared 1.78m. Keneisha Melbourne of Trinidad and Tobago won the bronze having sailed over the bar at 1.75m.
It was 1-3 for Jamaica in the U20 Girls Jade-Ann Dawkins who produced a season-best 6.14m on her fourth jump to take the crown.
Gannes Janae De of Trinidad and Tobago took the silver medal with her leap of 5.93m while Bruce followed up her silver in the high jump with bronze in the horizontal jump where she produced a leap of 5.78m.
Regarding to the relays, the judges in The Bahamas decided on a re-run of the relay after Barbados filed a protest claiming their lead-off runner was left at a disadvantage after the race was recalled when the Bahamian athlete claimed he did not hear the gun.
By then the lead off runners had sprinted about 50 metres.
However, reports said Jamaica’s head coach David Riley said Jamaica would not participate in the re-run because the officials had not declared the race null and void. Unconfirmed reports claimed that other countries who had teams in the final were planning to follow suit.
Second-half goals from Cheyna Matthews and Chantelle Swaby led Jamaica to a 2-0 win over Sheffield United in a friendly at the King Power Stadium in Leicester on Easter Monday.
In a largely scrappy affair Jamaica were fairly fluent in build-up but poor final passes denied the Reggae Girls clear opportunities. Shaw had a shot on goal that was saved and on another was put through on goal but hit the shot wide of the upright from inside the box.
The Reggae Girlz opened the scoring in the second half when Swaby headed in from a corner.
Matthews added the second after Bunny Shaw beat an onrushing goalkeeper before cutting back to an open Matthews who tapped into an empty net.
Jamaica used the match as preparation for their upcoming FIFA World Cup campaign in Australia in the summer. Jamaica have been drawn in Group F alongside France, Panama and Brazil.
Two of Jamaica’s relay teams were disqualified last night at the 50th Carifta Games in Nassau, Bahamas.
The U17 Boys 4x100m team that initially won the silver medal was deemed to have passed outside the change-over zone on the second handover. The silver medal was subsequently awarded to Grenada.
Meanwhile, Jamaica's gold-medal winning U17 Girls' team was also disqualified after Natrece East, while running the third leg, was deemed to have stepped on the inside line of her lane thus prompting the disqualification.
The Boys U20 4x100m that was won by Jamaica has also been called into question after teams protested that they did not have enough time to recover from a faulty start during which the home team Bahamas was left in the blocks.
The race was called back after the lead-off runners were half-way through the opening leg.
That race is now rescheduled to be re-run Monday afternoon.
In a match-up of Jamaican shooters in the Suncorp Super Netball League on Sunday, Jhanielle Fowler’s West Coast Fever rallied to defeat Romelda Aiken-George’s New South Wales Swifts 78-67 and maintain their unbeaten record so far this season.
In the match played at the Ken Rosewall Arena, the defending champions found themselves trailing early to an aggressive Swifts unit lead by Aiken-George’s 33 goals from 37 attempts. Helen Housby supported with 17 goals from 18.
Swifts led 18-15 at the end of the first quarter.
Fowler, meanwhile, who has been near perfect this season, led the comeback as the Fever outscored their opponents 20-17 in the second quarter as the teams went into the half-time break tied at 35-35.
Goal attack Sasha Glasgow scored seven from eight as the champions dominated the third quarter 24-16 before closing out the game 19-16 to take their fourth win from four games this season.
Fowler, the MVP for the last four seasons, has so far scored 220 goals this season, 39 more from fellow Jamaican Shimona Nelson who has scored 181 goals for the Colllingwood Magpies that beat Queensland Firebirds 69-61 on Saturday.
Nelson scored 61 from 66 attempts in the victory over the winless Firebirds.
Meanwhile, despite a league leading 417.5 Nissan Net Points from Shamera Sterling, the Adelaide Thunderbirds suffered their first loss of the season, going down 54-59 to GIANTS.
At the 49th staging of the Carifta Games at the National Stadium in Jamaica in April 2022, Jamaica won all four sprint relays in impressive fashion. Things were a little different at the 50th staging at the Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas on Sunday.
The day concluded with Brenden Vanderpool of the Bahamas successfully defending his pole vault title in a new Carifta record of 5.06m while holding off the challenge of Tedre O'Neil (4.60m) of St Vincent and the Grenadines, who claimed the silver medal. Tyler Cash of the Bahamas won the bronze medal with his clearance of 4.45m.
Heading into Monday's final day, Jamaica leads the medal standings with 42 medals - 23 gold, 13 silver and six bronze medals. The hosts, Bahamas, have 26 medals - five gold, eight silver and 13 bronze medals. The number exceeds the 17 medals they won in Kingston in 2022. Third is Trinidad and Tobago with 12 medals - two gold, four silver and six bronze medals while Guyana have seven medals - two gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Barbados rounds out the top five with four medals - two gold and two silver.
Earlier, Jamaica won three of the four 4x100m relays and should have won all four had it not been a poor second exchange on the Boys U17 4x100m that opened the door for the Bahamas, who obliged by winning in 41.46 ahead of the Jamaicans, who clocked 41.63.
Grenada finished third in 41.95.
Prior to that race, Jamaica’s U17 Girls comfortably ran away with the gold medal in 45.36s, finishing ahead of the team from Trinidad and Tobago that clocked 46.18 for the silver medal. Bahamas, the home team, picked up the bronze when they finished in 46.43.
Jamaica’s U20 girls got things back on track with a dominating performance to win in 44.01 more than a second clear of Trinidad and Tobago, who took silver in 45.35 while the Bahamas ran 45.55 for the bronze medal.
The Bahamas team that featured the silver and bronze medallists in the 100m dash on Saturday were serious contenders to dethrone the Jamaicans and everything seemed to be going according to form for the home team until the final exchange.
Bahamian anchorman Carlos Brown got the baton with a three-metre lead on Jamaica’s anchor Deandre Daley, who driven by his disqualification in the semi-finals of the 100m and the injury to teammate Bouwahgjie Nkrumie, unleashed his blistering speed down the home stretch to catch and storm by Brown to the finish line.
Jamaica’s winning time was 39.68. The Bahamas took silver in 39.78 while Trinidad and Tobago finished third in 40.83.
They might have dominated proceedings in the sprint relays but Jamaica didn’t have things their own way in the 400m hurdles.
Jamaica’s Jody-Ann Daley won the Girls U17 event in 1:01.05 ahead of Darvinique Dean of the Bahamas who ran 1:02.50 for the silver medal. Daley’s compatriot was third in 1:02.61 to claim the bronze medal. It was a different story in the U20 event that saw a dominating performance from Michelle Smith from the Virgin Islands.
Smith, who won the U17 event in Jamaica in 2022, ran strong race from start to finishing, winning in 57.69 well clear of the Jamaican pair of Tonyan Beckford and Alliah Baker who ran 58.94 and 59.55 for second and third, respectively.
St Kitts and Nevis’ Akanye Samuel Francis upset the Jamaican pair of Deandre Gayle and Demario Bennett to win gold in the U17 Boys 400m hurdles in 54.14. Gayle ran 55.10 for the silver medal with Bennett clocking 55.27 for the bronze medal.
Jamaica got back to winning ways in the Boys U20 in the form of Roshawn Clarke who produced a dominant performance to win in 49.92 ahead of teammate Antonio Forbes, who clocked 51.72. Shimar Bain of the Bahamas ran 52.48 for the bronze medal.
Bahamas comprehensively won the inaugural staging of the mixed 4x400m relay, running away from the field to clock 3:24.92. In their wake was Grenada 3:27.22 and Jamaica 3:29.35.
Kaydean Johnson took gold in the 3000m steeplechase in commanding fashion powering away from the field in the final 200m to win in 10:41.11 leaving silver medalist Attoya Harvey of Guyana (10:45.74) in her wake.
Akaya Lightbourne of the Bahamas won the bronze medal with her time of 10:47.01.
Demetrie Meyer of Belize, who won gold in the 1500m on Saturday, added the 3000m gold to his collection on Sunday with a winning time of 9:08.56. Ejay George of Grenada won the silver medal in 9:36.82 with Love Joseph of the Turks and Caicos Islands winning bronze in a time of 9:37.46.
Ronaldo Anderson won another gold medal for Jamaica in the U17 Boys Shot Put. He set a mark of 15.52m to just get the better of Denzel Phillips of St Lucia who threw 15.17m Rueben Bain of the Bahamas threw 13.78m to claim the bronze medal.
Jamaica also won the Boys U17 triple jump as Euan Young soared out to 14.32m to claim the gold medal. Aaron Massiah of Barbados won the silver with a 13.93m effort while Ezekiel Saul of Guyana claimed the bronze with his jump of 13.53m.
Gerilin Barnes won gold for Antigua in the U17 Girls long jump. She soared out to a mark of 5.60m, a mere three centimetres clear of Jamaica's Sashana Johnson's 5.57m. The bronze medal was won by Hilaire Oceane Saint of Guadeloupe (5.54m).
Dominica’s Addison Alickson James threw 60.16m to win gold in the U17 Boys javelin. Antigua’s Maliek Francis hurled the implement 50.45m for the silver medal with Guadeloupe’s Tristan Carias winning bronze with his throw of 49.48m.
Guyana’s Anisha Gibbon, Jamaica’s Britannia Johnson and Cayman's Andrew Stone each won gold medals on Sunday’s morning session on day two of the 50th Carifta Games being held in Nassau, Bahamas.
Nineteen-year-old Gibbons, the defending champion, threw 47.96m on her very first attempt to win the Women’s U20 javelin. Korann Corlet, 19, of French Guiana won the silver with her best throw of 45.32 while 18-year-old Vanessa Sawyer of the Bahamas took home the bronze medal with a throw of 43.37m.
It was a 1-2 finish for the defending champions Jamaica in the Women U20 shot put as 19-year-old Johnson established a winning mark of 14.54m. Her compatriot Britannie Johnson, also 19, won the silver medal with a throw of 13.74m.
The bronze medal went to St Lucia’s Joy Edward, 19, who put 13.53m to secure the final spot on the podium.
Meanwhile, Andrew Stone of the Cayman Islands produced a mark of 7.54m to win the U20 long jump. The 17-year-old Stone was 10cm better than Jamaica's Demario Prince who took the silver with his best jump of 7.44m, the same as Mateo Smith of the Bahamas, who was third as the Jamaica had a better series. Prince's second-best jump was 7.43m while Smith's was 7.33m. Prince's third-best effort was 7.37m to Smith's 7.33m.
Denis Bouanga netted a hat-trick as reigning MLS champions LAFC claimed a statement win with a 3-0 rout of Austin on Saturday.
Bouanga opened the scoring with a low strike with five minutes left in the first half, before adding further goals in the 57th and 68th minutes.
The Gabonese winger fired in a powerful right-foot volley from a corner for 2-0, before side-footing home at the back post for the third.
The result meant LAFC kept in touch with the top two in the Western Conference, with Seattle Sounders moving above St Louis City into top spot with a 3-0 win in the late game.
The Sounders netted three second-half goals to condemn the expansion side to their second straight loss after winning their opening five MLS games.
Phil Neville's Inter Miami slumped to their fifth straight loss, going down 1-0 at home to Dallas. US international Jesus Ferreira scored the only goal in the 27th minute. Dallas moved up to fourth in the West with the victory.
Cincinnati remained top of the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 home win over Philadelphia Union, who are winless in four. New England are second in the East behind Cincy, thrashing Montreal 4-0.
Tom Barlow scored deep into stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw for New York Red Bulls against San Jose Earthquakes, while Colorado Rapids edged Sporting KC 1-0 on the road.
New York City and Atlanta United drew 1-1, Nashville and Toronto drew 0-0, while Columbus Crew secured their third straight win with a 2-0 victory at D United.
Kei Kamara scored a double as Chicago Fire won 2-1 over Minnesota United, while Amine Bassi also netted a brace as 10-man Houston Dynamo beat nine-man LA Galaxy 3-0.
Real Salt Lake came from behind to win 3-1 over Charlotte, while Vancouver Whitecaps beat Portland Timbers 1-0.
Jamaica’s Alana Reid and the Cayman Islands’ Davonte Howell won the respective Under-20 Girls and Boys 100m titles on day one of the 50th edition of the CARIFTA Games at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in the Bahamas.
Reid, who ran a spectacular National Junior Record 10.92 to win gold in the Class 1 Girls 100m at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships last week, easily took home gold in 11.17 ahead of teammate Alexis James who ran 11.53 for second and Trinidad & Tobago’s Sanaa Frederick who ran 11.65 in third.
The Boys final did not have the same excitement due to the absences of Jamaica’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, who suffered an injury in the prelims, and De Andre Daley, who was disqualified in his semi-final due to a false start.
Nevertheless, Howell produced an excellent 10.30 for gold ahead of the Bahamian pair Carlos Brown (10.38) and Adam Musgrove (10.44). Brown and Musgrove both ran personal bests.
The Under-17 Girls final was won by the Bahamas’ Jamiah Nabbie in 11.67 ahead of St. Lucia’s Naomi London (11.72) and Trinidad & Tobago’s Alexxe Henry (11.81).
Jamaica’s Tramaine Todd took home gold in the Boy’s equivalent in 10.52 ahead of the Bahamas’ Ishmael Rolle (10.62) and Grenada’s Ethan Sam (10.71).
Moving on to the 400m, Jamaica secured the top to spots on the podium in the Under-20 Boys through Jasauna Dennis (46.43) and Delano Kennedy (46.50) while St. Vincent & the Grenadines’ Amal Glasgow took bronze in 47.18.
Jamaica also took gold in the Girls Under-20 final through Rickiann Russell (51.84). Bahamas took silver and bronze through Javonya Valcourt (52.12) and Lacarthea Cooper (53.12).
Nickecoy Bramwell made it three 400m gold medals out of four for Jamaica by winning the Boys Under-17 final in 47.86 ahead of St. Kitts & Nevis’ Jaylen Bennett (48.59) and the Bahamas’ Andrew Brown (48.68).
Guyana’s Tianna Springer took gold in the Girls Under-17 final in 54.32 ahead of Jamaica’s Jody-Ann Daley (54.81) and St. Kitts & Nevis’ De’Cheynelle Thomas (55.46).
In the field, Trinidad & Tobago’s Immani Matthew took gold in the Boys Under-17 long jump with 7.13m ahead of Barbados’ Aaron Massiah (6.49m) and Cayman’s Junior Anthony Chin (6.48m).
Jamaica took the top two spots in the Boys Under-20 discus through Kobe Lawrence (60.27m) and Shaiquan Dunn (57.28m). Antwon Walkin of the Turks & Caicos Islands was third with 52.25m.
Jamaican World Junior Champion Brandon Pottinger teammate Chavez Penn shared gold in the Boys Under-20 high jump with clearances of 2.00m while Trinidad & Tobago’s Jaidi James took bronze with 1.95m.
Brendan Boodoo starred with 82 as Trinidad & Tobago beat Barbados by 17 runs for their third win in as many games in the CWI Rising Stars Under-15 Championship at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Saturday.
The Trinidadians made 235-8 off their 50 overs batting first. Boodoo was supported by contributions from Christian Lall (25) and Dimitri Ramjattan (22). R’Jai Gittens was the best bowler on the day for Barbados with 2-61 off eight overs.
Then, despite 65 from Gadson Bowens and 61 from Raphael Lovell, the defending champions were restricted to 218 all out off 49 overs.
Boodoo, Yasir Deen and Darrius Batoosingh all took two wickets apiece to lead the charge.
At Coolidge, the Windward Islands secured a 29-run win over Guyana. Tyler Venner top-scored with 45 as the Windwards were dismissed for 174 off 50 overs. Guyana captain Dave Mohabir led the way with 3-19 from his 10 overs while Shane Price and Adrian Hetmyer took 2-49 and 2-36 from 10 overs and five overs, respectively.
In reply, Guyana was then restricted to 145 off 40.3 overs with Razam Koobir (39) and Navin Boodwah (35) leading the way.
Jorden Charles took 4-31 off 8.3 overs and Theo Edward took 3-19 from seven for the Windwards.
The Leeward Islands beat Jamaica by six wickets at the Liberta Sports Club in the day’s other game.
Jamaica was bowled out for 117 in 26.2 overs batting first. Amoree Jones took 4-20 off five overs while Krishna Girdhari and Lythe Brown took two wickets, each.
The Leewards then needed only 33.1 overs to reach 119-4 thanks to 31* from Lawshorn Bergan and 23 from Matthew Miller.
Ryan Lyttleton finished with 3-36 off 9.1 overs for the Jamaicans.
The fourth round of matches take place on Monday with Jamaica facing Trinidad & Tobago at Coolidge, the Leeward Islands battling Guyana at the Liberta Sports Club and the Windward Islands facing Barbados at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
Two of the marquee athletes at the 2023 CARIFTA Games, Jamaica’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie and BVI’s Adaejah Hodge, both suffered injury setbacks on day one of the 50th edition of the games at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in the Bahamas on Saturday
Nkrumie, who ran a National Junior Record 9.99 to win the Class 1 Boys 100m title at the ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships in Kingston last week, was comfortably leading his heat in the Boys Under-20 100m before pulling up injured and falling to the track with about 30m to go.
Hodge, the Austin Sealy Award winner from last year’s CARIFTA Games in Kingston, was scheduled to go in the first heat of the Under-20 Girls 100m but was pulled from the race as a precaution after feeling some discomfort while warming up.
The 100m semi-finals and finals are scheduled for later on Saturday.
Defending champions, the Bahamas hauled in a total of 20 medals that includes eight golds, five silvers and seven bronze medals. medals on night one of the 2023 CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Curacao on Thursday.
Nigel Forbes swam to a new record 54.75 in the 15-17 Boys 100m Butterfly, breaking the previous record 54.85.
The Bahamas also finished top of the podium in the 11-12 Boys and Girls 200m Breaststroke races.
Jaylah Threadgill produced a personal best of 3:03.68 to win the girls category while Trace Russell swam 2:50.46 for gold in the boys division.
Emmanuel Gadson won the 15-17 boys 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:22.85. David Singh took gold in the 50m backstroke with a time of 31.15 seconds. Saleste Gibson secured the gold in the 11-12 girls 100m Butterfly when she stopped the clock on 1:09.11.
The Bahamians also took gold in the boys and girls 11-12 4x400m Freestyle relays.
Bahamas leads the overall points standings after day one with 262 ahead of the Cayman Islands (175), Barbados (135), Trinidad and Tobago (120) and Martinique (105.5).
At the Liberta Sports Club, Trinidad & Tobago got their second consecutive dominant win with a seven-wicket triumph over the Windward Islands on Thursday.
In a match reduced to 20-overs-per-side due to rain, the Windwards, who comfortably beat the Leewards in their first game, were bowled out for 71 in 18.2 overs.
Only first game centurion Earsinho Fontaine (23) and captain Theo Edward (14) were able to get double figures as the Trinidadian bowling effort was led by Yasir Deen who took 3-9 from four overs and Brendan Boodoo who ended with similar figures.
With the bat, T&T needed just 11.5 overs to reach 75-3 with Zane Maraj and Christian Lall finishing 18* and 7*, respectively. Earlier, Boodoo top scored with 21 while Darrius Batoosingh got 16.
At the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium, Guyana got their first win when they defeated Jamaica by 15 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
The Guyanese were bowled out for 121 in 42.2 overs in their turn at the crease. Romario Ramdeholl led the way with an unbeaten 54 as Nicoli McKenzie took 4-25 off eight overs and Demarco Scott 3-21 off 10.
A rain delay with Jamaica 13-0 early in their reply meant they ended up needing 112 off 33 overs for victory.
They ended up being bowled out for 96 in the 33rd over. Tyson Gordon Jr made 23 while Joel Williams finished 19* as Dave Mohabir and Dhanesh Persaud took two wickets, each.
At Coolidge, the Leewards beat Barbados by four wickets via the DLS method.
Batting first, Barbados was restricted to 129 in 41.4 overs. Seth Smith top-scored with 23 and Jakeem Pollard made 19 against Kunal Tilokani’s 4-17 off seven overs and four balls and 3-19 off seven overs from Amoree Jones.
Due to lengthy rain delays, the Leewards’ target was reduced to 78 off 20 overs. They successfully reached 78-6 off 18 overs thanks to 18* from Matthew Miller.
The teams will next be in action on Saturday with the Leeward Islands taking on Jamaica at Liberta Sports Club, Trinidad & Tobago facing Barbados at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium and Guyana facing the Winward Islands at Coolidge.
Brian Schmetzer is looking for Seattle Sounders to use Lumen Field's home advantage to beat the visiting St. Louis City on Saturday and leapfrog them to the Western Conference summit.
Expansion franchise St. Louis have enjoyed a brilliant start to MLS life, rattling off five victories from their first six matches to sit top of the West.
They were beaten at home by Minnesota United last time out, though, and Schmetzer wants his Seattle team, who sit just two points behind St. Louis and will go top with a win, to embrace familiar surroundings against the early frontrunners.
"It's another home game," Schmetzer told reporters. "We want to make sure that Lumen Field is a hard place to play.
"I have confidence that if our team plays up to our potential, chances are we'll come up with a good result."
St. Louis' first MLS defeat came against an unbeaten Minnesota team, who scored with their only shot on target as the hosts lost despite managing more attempts and shots on target than their opponents while also holding 55 per cent of the possession.
Head coach Bradley Carnell is keeping a positive outlook as they try and get back on track against Seattle, saying: "It's a new window for us.
"It's a new window of opportunity to go and start something fresh, start something new."
Goalkeeper Roman Burki feels the first defeat has shown St. Louis' character, explaining: "Five games in a row, everything's good and sunshine every day.
"But I learned that we have actual winners and fighters in the team, guys who can speak up, get loud. I would say this group are a team."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Seattle Sounders – Leo Chu
After keeping his place in the starting XI following his four-assist performance against Sporting Kansas City, Chu followed it up by scoring his first goal and setting another goal up in the 2-1 victory at the LA Galaxy last time out. Can he make it three straight games with a goal involvement against St. Louis on Saturday?
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen (four assists) and team-mate Joao Klauss (two goals, three assists) have both contributed to at least one goal in each of their first three road matches in MLS, with only six players managing it in their first four games. Can Lowen join that exclusive club here?
MATCH PREDICTION – SEATTLE WIN
Seattle have taken 13 points from their first six matches of the season, the eighth time in 13 MLS campaigns they have managed at least 10 points from their opening six games, and they are yet to concede a goal at Lumen Field so far this term.
St. Louis, meanwhile, have the opportunity to become just the second team since 2000 to win their first four road matches of a season after the New York Red Bulls managed five in the last campaign.
But the Sounders have lost just one of their 10 home games against expansion sides, and they look the favourites to come out on top in this meeting of two of the Western Conference's early pacesetters.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Seattle: 49.5 per cent
St. Louis: 23.7 per cent
Draw: 26.8 per cent
Jamaican fitness athlete Deidre Lewis has rebounded from a two-year anti-doping suspension, to win her Pro Card following an outstanding showing at the Mr and Miss America IFBB Cup in Lima, Peru, last weekend.
During the competition that ran from April 1-2, Lewis won the Bikini Senior Up to 160cm Class over Ambar Canas of Venezuela, Aminta Jeanette Lopez Ramirez of El Salvador, Vivian Isabel Buella Guevara of Peru, Pamela Sosa of Guatemala, Alejandra Milargros Chang Yui of Peru and Helen Orellana of Chile.
She also won the Overall Bikini Fitness title over Costa Rica’s Darla Gomez Bolanos and El Salvador’s Aminta Jeanette Lopez Ramirez.
The success means that Lewis would finally earn her Pro Card.
“I am very happy with my success. It has been long overdue,” an elated Lewis told Sportsmax.TV after returning home earlier this week.
“I was delayed but never denied. Delayed with entering shows previously and coming very close to earning the card and didn’t get it and second, the suspension for Zeranol, which didn’t give me any advantage and is a naturally occurring substance that comes from food and I had to stay away from the stage,” she said.
“So, I am here once my suspension was up I hit the ground running because I just wanted to get back on the stage.”
She explained that during her time off, she worked to get her body in peak condition with the goal of earning her Pro Card.
“I started operating like a pro. I trained like a professional and now I am a professional,” she said.
“I won my height class first and I was so overwhelmed because it was a really tight show. It was really great and I had the muscles that they were looking for on the day so I am very happy with this win.”
Lewis, who intends to make her professional debut at the Roger Boyce Classic in Barbados from June 1-4 depending on if she can get sponsored, said the success has helped put her mind at ease and boosted her self-belief.
“It has made me content, very content and happy. Actually, happy is an understatement. I am overwhelmed, elated because I have waited so long to come back to the stage it, it hurt my spirit to be away from the stage so I am happy I could have come back and come back with a bang,” she said.
“I am more confident in my abilities now. I have changed my mindset upon entering the competition because before I was more nervous, doubting my abilities. I have also revamped how I approach competition. It is important to have confidence on the stage and that oozed out of me on the stage and that was why I was triumphant.”
She reveals, however, that she remains rankled by the suspension that robbed her of two years in the sport.
“I am still not over it, 100 per cent,” she said.
“I am just disheartened that the substance (Zeranol), it was a minute amount, it is a naturally occurring substance. The expert said that this was not something that I took and I still had to serve a suspension for that just because I simply could not tell them where it came from,” she said while suggesting that changes need to be made to some of the rules governing doping.
“I think they need to change those rules in cases like these when it was not something I took deliberately. I am still disheartened by it but I am looking forward from all of it.”
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