The Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) has congratulated middle-distance runner Natoya Goule for establishing a new national indoor 800m record in France on Thursday.

Jamaica Reggae Girlz striker, Khadijah Shaw, bagged a brace as the team kicked off its World Cup qualification campaign in strong fashion with a 4-0 win over Bermuda at the National Stadium on Thursday.

After missing several presentable opportunities early on, against a game Bermuda unit, Jamaica finally took the lead in the 21^st minute when Jodi Brown opened the scoring.  Trudy Carter doubled the team’s lead 9 minutes later after booting the ball into the net from around 8 yards, profiting from a late run into the box and a searching cutback from Brown on the flank.

Shaw, who headed the ball onto the ball early on, looked to have earned a penalty when she was brought down midway the second half by Bermuda goalkeeper Micah Pond, but her protest was waved off by the referee.

 The Manchester City forward made no mistake in the 79^th minute, adding the team’s third after smashing the ball high into the net from close range, after the goalkeeper had parried an effort from winger Kalyssa Van Zanten.  She added her second only moments from the final whistle after picking up the ball ten yards from goal, swiveling around her defender, and firing home.

The team will face Grenada in the second match of the round on Sunday.

Jamaican Olympian Natoya Goule set a new national record in an impressive win at the women’s 800m at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, in France, on Thursday.

Goule threw down an early-season marker after winning the event in 1:58.46, which was also a new world-leading time.  The Jamaican finished ahead of Ugandan World 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi who clocked an indoor personal best 1:58.58.  Kenya’s Eglay Nalyanya was third in 2:00.26.

Goule took charge after the pacemaker breezed through the first 400m at 57.56.  The Jamaican was through 600m in 87.64 but was trailed closely by Nakaayi who came into the event with the world lead.

The Ugandan looked comfortable and tried to push past Goule on the inside but was smartly closed off by the Jamaican and did not have the speed to go around down the stretch.

The event marked the first time the Jamaican was going dipping below 1:59:00 indoors and also beat her previous national record of 1:59.13 set in 2019.

Reggae Girlz and Manchester City forward Khadijah Shaw has expressed confidence ahead of the team’s match-up against Bermuda in the opening match of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship on Thursday.

The competition will be the official start of the team’s campaign to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.  Despite facing lower-ranked opposition, the team will not be kicking off its journey in ideal circumstances.

Several players who were part of the history-making World Cup squad are unavailable for the fixture due to injury or other reasons.  In addition, the team will feature a number of new players and has had limited time to work out its kinks.  The situation has given interim coach Vin Blaine plenty of pause for thought, but Shaw remains confident the squad will be capable of racking up positive results in this round.

“Football is a team sport, I trust my teammates.  There’s a reason why they are here, and the coach selected them, and I trust the coaching staff as well,” said Shaw, in assessing the situation.

“We have to just come in and understand each other as fast as possible.  It’s not ideal right now but I trust my teammates and I really do think we can get the job done despite other players not being here.”

The team will also travel away to face Grenada in the second match of the window.

Forty-eight hours after Andre Fletcher scored an unbeaten 101 to get Khulna Tigers into the playoffs of the Bangladesh Premier League, his unbeaten 80 was not enough to prevent them from getting knocked out, as they lost by seven runs to Chattogram Challengers.

Needing 16 from the final over bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz in pursuit of 190, Khulna Tigers only managed to eight runs. Miraz bowled a yorker-filled over that yielded a boundary by Fletcher and four singles before taking the wicket of Thisara Perera for three with the last ball of the match.

The Grenadian, who hit six fours and four sixes in his 58-ball knock that threatened to lead his side to another remarkable victory, got support from Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 43 from 29 balls. Together they put on 64 for the third wicket that took the score from 43-2 after Mahedi Hasan and Soumya Sarkar were dismissed for, two and one, respectively.

Fletcher and Yasir Ali then put together a stand of 65 for the fourth wicket. Yasir hit two fours and four sixes in his 24-ball 45 that took Khulna Tigers within touching distance of the target with nine balls remaining.

Miraz finished with 2-40.

Earlier, it was Chadwick Walton’s unbeaten 89 that helped Chattogram Challengers to their score of 189-5.

The Jamaican hit seven fours and seven sixes in his 44-ball knock that rescued Chattogram Challengers from a precarious 65-4 in the 10^th over. Other useful contributions came from Walton’s compatriot Kennar Lewis, who opened the batting with an uncharacteristically sedate 39 from 32 balls.

Miraz scored 36 from 30 late in the innings that helped Walton take Chattogram Challengers to their winning score.

Britney Anderson has been on a tear this indoor season with three lifetime best times in her last three races.

Jamaica and Texas A&M high jumper Lamara Distin set the field alight with a new national record and world-leading mark at the Don Kirby Invitational on Friday.

The 21-year-old sophomore recorded a clearance of 1.92m, which bettered her own previous best of 1.88m that had seen her tied on the country’s national best list with two other jumpers, Kimberly Williamson and Sheree Ruff, for second place. 

Her new mark broke the record of 1.90m set in March 2002 by Maresa Cadienhead.  On the way to the record, Distin cleared heights of 1.78m, 1.83m, 1.86m, and 1.89m before soaring to the record and the event title.

The jump also moved Distin ahead of Texas Tech's Sydney Sapp in the NCAA leaders table after both were previously tied at 1.88m.

Jamaica Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson clocked the fastest indoor time of her career over 60m for second place at the Tyson Invitational, held at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday.

Making her indoor debut for the season, Jackson clocked a new best of 7.12 but was well behind winner Mary Beth Sant-Price of the United States who clocked 7.04 to win the event. 

Sant-Price’s time is the second-fastest in the world this year behind Eva Swoboda who clocked 7.00 at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Lodz.  Another Jamaican, Natasha Morrison finished third in 7.35, with the Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan fifth in 7.41.  A third Jamaican in the race Shockoria Wallace finished 6^th in 7.47.

The men’s equivalent was captured by another Jamaica, Nigel Ellis, who took top spot in 6.90.  His compatriot long jumper Tajya Gayle, who is expected to do more sprinting this season, was second with 6.95, which was also his personal best.

In other events, Jamaica’s Ronald Levy finished third in the men’s 60m hurdles with a time of 7.98.  The event was won by Australia’s Chris Douglas in 7.64, with Jamal Britt second in 7.83.

Danielle Williams stormed to a world-leading 7.75 to win the 60m hurdles at the Tiger Paw Invitational on Friday. In winning, she lowered her previous lifetime best of 7.83 set at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in New York last Sunday.

Tokyo Olympics triple gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah says she has no intention of going after the World Indoor 60m record this season but based on how well she has been training she would not rule out the possibility.

Aston Villa winger and Jamaica international, Leon Bailey, is in contention to return to the team’s line-up ahead of its match-up with a resurgent Newcastle on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, who moved to the club from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen last summer, has not featured for the team since December when he was forced to leave the field after sustaining a thigh injury against league leaders Manchester City.

Aston Villa manager Stephen Gerrard had insisted that the player would not be rushed back into action but confirmed earlier this week that Bailey was back in full training and likely to feature soon.

“He’s back in the group and back in full training. He’ll continue to be pushed in the coming days. He has an outside chance of being involved at the weekend, but we’ll assess that in the coming days,” Gerrard said.

Bailey has had a stop-start season to life with the Villans after sitting out the early weeks of the club’s campaign with injury issues and then picking up a thigh injury, during a high-octane cameo against Everton in September.

He has a goal and two assists in nine Premier League games this term and has started on four occasions.

The issue of whether or not spectators will be allowed to attend the upcoming Carifta Games is yet to be resolved and remains a key area of focus for organisers.

The regional junior track and field event is expected to be staged in Jamaica for the first time since 2011 and more specifically return to the city of Kingston for the first time since 1996, in April of this year.

With the country and globe still in the midst of battling the coronavirus pandemic, however, the situation regarding the possibility of spectators and the number of spectators that can attend a given event, as always, remains a fluid and often tenuous process.

For example, recently it was announced that another upcoming track meet, the Gibson Relays, would be allowed to have spectators in attendance.  Only a few weeks ago, however, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) was denied permission for fans to enter the National Stadium for the country’s World Cup qualifiers.

Chairman of the local organising committee of the 2022 Carifta Games, Mike Fennell, revealed negotiations regarding the situation of fans were ongoing.

“We have a meeting set up with the agencies and ministries in providing the sort of regulations that will exist,” Fennell said.

“We have not finalized anything yet because we know that that is a moving target and the times are not static, but we continue to have meetings and there is goodwill all around,” he added.

“Everyone accepts the importance of having these games.  They're not for the seniors, they’re for the juniors but it is critical in the development of the sport.”

Reggae Girlz Head Coach Vin Blaine is to name his squad on Thursday that is to face Bermuda in the preliminary rounds of the Concacaf Women’s World Cup Qualifier on February 17 at the National Stadium in Kingston.

 Match time is 7:00 pm.

 Jamaica will have to win Group C which comprises Bermuda, Grenada, the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands to advance to the next round of qualifiers.

 Following the Bermuda match on February 17, Jamaica will travel to face Grenada on February 20. The remaining games against the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands will be played in April.

 The top finisher in each group will advance to the Concacaf W Championship joining the top-ranked CONCACAF nations, the USA and Canada – that have each received a bye straight to the W Championship which takes place in July 2022.

 The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has received approval to accommodate up to 2500 fully vaccinated fans in the Grand Stand of the National Stadium.

 Interested fans will have to be validated by the government’s electronic system which will open soon. Following the validation process, fans will be able to purchase tickets for J$3000.

 Those fans who were already validated by the system can simply enter and purchase a ticket.

Below are the respective groups for CONCACAF qualifiers.

Group A: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda and Anguilla
Group B: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Saint Kitts and Nevis, US Virgin Islands, and Curacao
Group C: Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Grenada and Cayman Islands
Group D: Panama, El Salvador, Barbados, Belize and Aruba
Group E: Haiti, Cuba, Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands
Group F: Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Nicaragua, Dominica and Turks and Caicos Islands

Jamaica Scorpions head coach, Andre Coley, has backed the team to improve its output at the crease for the new season of the Regional Four Day Competition, with the addition of new blood.

The franchise which has not won the tournament since the 2011-2012 season, has struggled to find consistency in recent editions, particularly at the crease.

“We have gone for younger investment at the top of the order to partner John and we have brought in young wicketkeeper-batsman Romaine Morris with the intention of strengthening the batting,” Coley told members of the media on Tuesday.

“The discussion that we have had with our senior batters is if they can even replicate or do better than what they did last year, along with some production from the younger guys then we should have more consistency in our batting,” he added.

Led by Jermaine Blackwood’s 768 runs, the team had a fair showing at the crease at the last edition of the tournament and scored the second-most in the competition with 3730.  The tally saw the Scorpions finish in third spot overall behind Trinidad and Tobago and champions Barbados.  Morris has been selected ahead of Aldane Thomas to partner with the team captain Campbell at the top of the order.  The Scorpions will bowl things off against the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force on Wednesday.