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• Wolmer’s completes dominant season with ISSA all-island U-19 boys' and girls' Table Tennis titles

  Just as they did in the Urban Area competition, Wolmer’s completed the ISSA all-island girls’ and boys’ U-19 Table Tennis double at the GC Foster College Auditorium on Wednesday.

  The girls’ team secured a dominant 3-0 win over St. Mary High to claim their third straight all-island crown while the boys’ team defeated Titchfield High 4-1.

  Jamaica College defeated Titchfield 5-0 to win the U-16 boys’ title while Immaculate Conception beat St. Hilda’s 3-1 to win the U-16 girls’ crown.

  For Wolmer’s Girls’ team members Gianna Lewis and Liana Campbell, this win was an excellent way to close out their respective high school careers.

  “Very relieved to be closing out with the all-island title,” Lewis told Sportsmax.tv.

  “My team and I knew we had to bring our A game one last time and we did so,” she added.

  Campbell called securing all-island success for the final time a “surreal feeling.”

  “We embodied our school’s motto, ‘Age Quod Agis.’ Whatever you do, do it well. I am so proud of the team and myself and we’ll continue to excel in this sport,” she added.

  The team’s third member, reigning JTTA National Champion Tsenaye Lewis, also reacted to the win.

  “I am very, very happy with this victory especially since this is my last year playing alongside Liana and my big sister Gianna,” she said.

  Lewis will still be at the school next year and hopes for continued success going forward.

  “This is definitely how I envisioned the end of this era but now I hope we can defend our title for my final year next year,” she added.

  The Lewis sisters will now turn their attention to national duty when they represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Youth Championships in Santo Domingo next week.

  “We are looking forward to competing and representing our country again,” Tsenaye Lewis said.

   

   

   

• Wolmer’s wins girls’ and boys’ ISSA U-19 Table Tennis titles

  Maroon and Gold were the dominant colors at the Campion College Auditorium on Tuesday as Wolmer’s copped both the ISSA girls’ and boys’ Under-19 Table Tennis titles.

  In the girls’ final, the Heroes Circle-based school won a hotly contested final 3-2 against St. Jago High while the boys’ final saw them defeat Kingston College by a similar score line.

  The girls’ final saw a Wolmer’s team boasting three national players, namely 2023 National Champion Tsenaye Lewis, her older sister Gianna Lewis as well as Liana Campbell facing a St. Jago outfit including two national players of their own, Kelsey Davidson and Keara Whyte, who was the runner up to Lewis at last year’s JTTA National Championships.

  

  The tie began with Tsenaye Lewis defeating Kelsey Davidson three sets to one (11-9, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7) to put the Wolmerians up 1-0.

  Keara Whyte then made it 1-1 with three sets to one victory over Gianna Lewis (11-6, 11-2, 6-11, 11-6).

  Wolmer’s then restored their advantage when Liana Campbell beat Leanna Smith by three sets to one (6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8).

  In what was perhaps the tie’s most anticipated clash, Tsenaye and Keara White then had a rematch of the 2023 National Championship final with Lewis having the chance to clinch the title for Wolmer’s.

  Whyte had the best possible start, winning the first two sets (11-9, 11-9) before Lewis came roaring back in the third set to win 11-6. The fourth set was then a back-and-forth affair, with Whyte eventually prevailing 14-12 to set up the title-deciding match between Gianna Lewis and Kelsey Davidson.

  In the decider, Lewis won the first two sets (11-2, 11-6) before Davidson got on the board in the third (11-9) before Lewis won the fourth (11-9) to secure the title for Wolmer’s.

  For Lewis (Gianna) and Campbell, this title meant a lot more as they are both outgoing seniors.

  “I am overjoyed to be leaving with this title. My team and I have worked hard and we made it our goal to ensure we take home the gold again this year as our final hoorah,” Lewis told SportsMax.tv.

  “My sister Tsenaye, Liana and I realized that this day would come when the more experienced players will leave Wolmer’s so we have prioritized training and motivating the next generation of players,” she added.

  

  Campbell described the win as “an incredible and bittersweet feeling.”

  “Ending my last year victorious is such an awarding and joyous feeling. Sharing that with the team creates another fond memory to look back on as I go. I also feel a bit saddened as I’ll never be able to play another ISSA event and represent my school with my lovely teammates. I’ll especially miss the titular bis rides to matches where it was all smiles and laughter.” she added.

  The boys’ final saw Wolmer’s take a 1-0 lead over Kingston College thanks to Joel Lamm’s three sets to one win over Javier Levene (11-3, 6-11, 11-1, 11-2).

  KC got back on level terms when Gemarco Smith won a five-setter (16-14, 11-3, 4-11, 8-11, 11-9) against Wolmer’s captain Azizi Johnson.

  Dominic Robinson then gave the North-Street based institution a 2-1 lead thanks to a straight set (11-2, 11-6, 12-10) win over Maleek Palma.

  Wolmer’s made it 2-2 when Jayden Ebanks beat Alden Howard (10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9) before Jelani Barnaby secured the title for Wolmer’s with a straight set win (11-9, 11-2, 11-6) over KC captain Chadwick Duff.

  “For the girls, this is the third time that we have been champions. Originally it was U-16 but the girls moved up to U-19 and we were also the All Island champions so hopefully we can repeat that,” said winning coach Clive Grossett.

  “For the boys, they also won in U-16 and now they’ve moved up as well. We’re now coming for the all island championship there as well,” he added.

  Immaculate Conception High beat Jonathan Grant 3-0 to win the girls’ U-16 title while Jamaica College beat Kingston College 3-0 to win the boys’ equivalent.

  The all island matchups will be finalized after the ISSA Rural Area semi-finals and finals scheduled for Friday at the GC Foster College.

   

   

   

• CWI President Shallow pleased with region's progress in preparation for T20 World Cup

  As the much-anticipated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup draws closer, Cricket West Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow expressed satisfaction with the region’s state of readiness for global showpiece which is jointly hosted by in the Caribbean and United States.

  Shallow’s remarks followed a recent visit Kensington Oval in Barbados where he was assured that all was on course for the June 1-29 tournament.

  Barbados will host nine matches– five in the group stage, three in the Super Eight second stage, and the final on June 29, which will mark the third such ICC marquee game to be staged at the venue following on from the historic One-Day International World Cup in 2007 and the 2010 T20 World Cup.

  Though West Indies will not feature in any group stage games at the Oval, a box office fixture between reigning T20 World champions England and Australia is on the cards for June 8.

  Ambassador Noel Lynch, chairman of the National Organising Committee, in a recent media conference said that the major elements of the storied venue would be delivered to tournament authorities next week while the remaining elements would be completed by month end.

  

  “On the eastern concourse where there’s the party stand and the temporary facility, and all of those facilities that are coming in, we are sure that we’ll hand over those on the 30th of April. But we’ll hand over the major parts that you know – the 3Ws, the Greenidge and Haynes, the Media Centre, the field of play, the scoreboards, all of the electronic boards – will be finished within a week and handed over,” Lynch said.

  “I think that’s ahead of schedule. I think Barbados has done an exceptional job. It wasn’t my job … when I came back from the US, we were already very far advanced in terms of the progress – the infrastructural progress at Kensington Oval,” he added.

  Shallow agreed, as he gave the thumbs up to Barbados and other host venues across the region, who are well advanced in preparation for the tournament.

  “Well ahead of schedule. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made so far with the World Cup and it’s definitely going to be a spectacle of an event and something we should all look forward to,” Shallow said.

  He later revealed that there was one territory that was lagging behind in their preparations, but was reluctant to name the island.

  Along with Barbados, games will also be played in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

  “Only one facility in the Caribbean, one country (is) probably a couple weeks behind schedule, but we have their commitment that they are going to accelerate. It might take some day and night application but no doubt, by June 1, every country in the Caribbean is going to be ready,” Shallow shared.