West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Tevin Imlach has credited trust in defence and patience for his team’s strong showing in the second Test against Pakistan in Multan. After being bowled out for 163 in their first innings, the West Indies bounced back with a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Pakistan to 154. They followed it up with a resilient batting display in the second innings, scoring 244 on a turning pitch, with Captain Kraigg Brathwaite leading from the front with a gritty 52.
The 34-year, who has represented the county at the Olympic Games on several occasions, retired from international competition in 2018, pointing to the exorbitant cost of competing as a major factor in his decision.
Earlier this year, Bailey announced that he had decided to return to the sport in order to compete at next year’s Olympic Games. It seems, however, that some things have yet to change.
“They turned down my stuff and I left it alone, but I knew that was going to happen and I just think that the NOC is a sham because they don’t care about the athletes,” Bailey said recently on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.
“It is the first time I have sent the NOC an email about funding and the murmuring stated as to why Bakka want this and why Bakka wants that but at the end of the day, the money does not belong to any one of them and without the athletes, they can’t get any funding,” he added.
Earlier this year, EP Chet Greene, politician, and president of the NOC pledged to support the athlete after learning of his bid to qualify for the Olympics.
Bailey’s scorn was not, however, limited to the NOC as he reflected on a long career of footing his own expense.
“For the majority, I had to do it myself along with two or three corporate sponsors. The NOC is not coming on board, the athletics association is not coming on board and the Ministry of Sports is not coming on board. At the age of 18 years, I left for Jamaica on an IOC scholarship, and ever since then I have never gotten any help from the NOC, the government nor the Ministry of Sports. I have been to four Olympic Games, spent 100s of thousands of dollars on myself, and represented this country without a dollar from anybody.”
Bailey, who has a personal best of 9.91, has made it to the semi-finals of two Olympic Games and was fourth at the 2009 World Championships.
Despite the pandemic wreaking havoc upon the international track and field calendar, the Jamaican managed to put together a series of strong performances. Thompson-Herah ran unbeaten over seven races in which she also set a world-leading 10.85 over the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Rome. She also closed the season with a strong 10.87s in Doha.
Making the final five with Thompson-Herah are Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) Sifan Hassan, Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, and Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela). Gidey set a world record of 14:06.62 over 5000m and was second in the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco. Hassan also set a world record in the one hour run as well as a European record of 29:36.67 over 10,000m, the fourth-fastest performance in history. Jepchirchir won the world half marathon title and twice broke the world half-marathon record, while Rojas was undefeated in four triple jump competitions indoors and outdoors and broke the world indoor triple jump record with 15.43m.
The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2020 to be staged as a virtual event on Saturday 5 December and streamed live on the World Athletics YouTube channel, its Facebook page, and via Twitter.
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 28-year-old double Olympic champion has put together a strong season. Thompson-Herah won all seven of her 100m races and finished the campaign with a world-leading time of 10.85 seconds, which was recorded at the Rome Diamond League in September.
In addition to Thompson-Herah, the list includes Femke Bol (Netherlands), Letesenbet Gibey (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya), Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), Laura Muir (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Hellen Obiri (Kenya), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) and Ababel Yeshaneh (Ethiopia).
The Jamaican will face still competition to land the prize, with world records broken this year by Gidey (5000m), Hassan (hour run), Jepchirchir (half marathon, women only), Rojas (triple jump, indoors), and Yeshaneh (half marathon).
The list will be trimmed to five athletes after voting takes place among the World Athletics Council (50 percent), World Athletics family (25 percent), and by fans (25 percent) by liking individual athlete graphics on World Athletics’ Facebook and Instagram or by retweets.
Thompson-Herah is the only Jamaican nominated on either the male or female list. American Dalilah Muhammad took the honour last year when she twice lowered the 400m hurdles world record.
Today (February 26) marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Everton DeCourcy Weekes. That makes it a very special day in Barbados and West Indies history – for Weekes was a classy and artistic batsman, who rose from humble beginnings to be celebrated around the world as one of the most heralded gentlemen to ever play the game of cricket.
Jomel Warrican is hoping that his extraordinary performances and heroics which saw him lead West Indies to a historic win would help him secure a long run in the team. The left-arm spinner bowled West Indies to victory in the second Test against Pakistan on Monday in Multan.
Bolt, who retired from the sport of track and field in 2017, will not be competing at the Games in Tokyo this summer but in many ways still looms large over a sport he dominated for close to a decade.
At the 2016 Rio Games, the last time the event was held, Bolt destroyed the field in typical fashion, en route to three gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m. On debut, at the 2008 Beijing Games, Bolt set massive world records in both the 100m and 200m sprints.
Overall, Bolt finished his csareer with 8 Olympic gold medals. With such dominant performances, it is little wonder that Osaka, who has Caribbean roots herself with her father hailing from the island of Haiti, enjoyed watching the Jamaican in his prime. Osaka, who is likely to attempt to win a gold medal for Japan this summer, recently shared what the quadrennial event has meant to her over the years.
“When I think of the Olympics, what comes to mind is, of course, the opening ceremony, just seeing all the people being so happy,” Osaka said in an interview posted on the ITF official website.
“My like most outstanding Olympic memory is just watching Bolt run. He’s my favorite athlete and for my whole family. My dad really loves his running so we would just like to watch him.”
The West Indies crumbled to a disappointing defeat against Bangladesh in the second T20 International on Tuesday night at the Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent, surrendering the three-match series with a game to spare. Chasing a modest target of 129, the hosts were bowled out for a paltry 102, falling short by 27 runs.
The West Indies edged closer to a series-levelling victory in the second Test against Pakistan, holding the upper hand at stumps on Day Two. Pakistan, chasing 254 on a deteriorating pitch, ended the day at 76 for 4, still 178 runs short of their target.
The West Indies Masters, missing the star power of Chris Gayle and Brian Lara, suffered a 21-run defeat to the Sri Lanka Masters in their International Masters League T20 clash at BCA Stadium, Vadodara, on Thursday. It was their first loss after beginning their campaign with back-to-back victories over Australia and England.
The West Indies U19 Women’s team clinched their first win of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, defeating hosts Malaysia by 53 runs to advance to the Super Six round. After a tough start to their campaign with losses to India and Sri Lanka, the West Indies bounced back in style, defending a modest total of 112 for 7 by dismissing Malaysia for just 59 runs.
The 14-time Boys Championships winner last claimed the title in 2010, on the 100th year anniversary of the competition. Though being typically there or thereabout, the school has not been able to consistently compete for the Mortimer Geddes trophy.
The shakeup will see the school part ways with noted high school track and field coach Danny Hawthorne, who took over the job in 2016. The annual track and field event was cancelled last year, due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team has finished outside of the top five for the previous three years claiming 6th place positions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions. MVP club president Bruce James, a former student at the institution, confirmed the existence of the new arrangements.
“The headmaster of Wolmer’s Mr. Pennycoke has invited the MVP track club to play a positive role in the redevelopment of the Wolmer’s Boys track team, this takes effect on the first of January 2021,” James told Television Jamaica.
“The Wolmer’s Boys school happens to be where the MVP track and field club was founded and the MVP club’s management consists of Wolmer’s old boys such as Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, Andre Edwards, so we are happy to help the Wolmer’s Boys track and field team and the program he is building,” he added.
