By virtue of their outstanding play during the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls have moved up a place in World Netball’s global rankings.
The Sunshine Girls who defeated world number-one Australia and number-two New Zealand before losing to Australia in the final, have climbed a spot to number three in the world rankings released on Monday.
Meanwhile, Barbados’ Gems failed to win a single match at the Commonwealth Games and have dropped two places to 14th in the rankings. Trinidad and Tobago, meanwhile, fell one place to 11th.
According to World Netball, “Since the last WN World Rankings update published, on March 1, 2022, many international test series and events have taken place including the PacificAUS Series, Europe Netball Open Challenge, COSANA Tri-Nations Series, Wales International Test Series, Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers – Oceania, and most recently, the 38 matches at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“Within the top six teams Jamaica has moved up to third in the world, whilst England has dropped to fourth, this comes after Jamaica made history at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games making their first final and winning a silver medal.”
World Netball said the new rankings mean that world number-one Australia, New Zealand (2), Jamaica (3) and England (4) will now be invited to compete at the NWC2023. Uganda (6) will also be invited; they have also qualified through their world ranking, due to South Africa (5) pre-qualifying as hosts.
The Netball World Cup 2023 Qualifier – Oceania has already taken place with Tonga and Fiji qualifying to be invited by World Netball to compete at the event.
Tonga finished unbeaten at both the PacificAUS Series in March 2022 and the Netball World Cup Qualifier Oceania in July 2022.
World Netball requires teams to have played six or more matches in the ranking period to be eligible for a World Ranking. Tonga has reached this threshold again and they now regain a world ranking, entering 9th place in the world. This is a remarkable achievement as their highest previous ranking was 19th.
Malta (35) Israel (39) and Switzerland (45) have also regained a ranking after playing the required number of matches by competing at the Europe Netball Open Challenge in May.
The success of Tonga has led to Scotland moving down one place to 10, and Trinidad & Tobago and Northern Ireland also moving down one place to 11 and 12.
There have also been many changes lower down the table with Barbados, Cook Islands and Samoa all moving down two places, whilst the Republic of Ireland have moved up four places to 24th after winning the Europe Netball Open Challenge.
Trinidad and Tobago athletes who won medals at the recently concluded 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, will have some extra cash to spend this year under the twin-island republic Ministry of Sports’ Reward and Incentives Framework, according to reports.
Under the programme, cyclist Nicholas Paul and sprinter Jereem Richards will be the primary beneficiaries as both men are responsible for the three gold medals the country won in Birmingham.
Paul won gold in the keirin, silver in the match sprint and bronze in the 1000m time trials and is set to receive TT$437,500 while Richards, who won the 200m title in a Games record 19.80 and anchored the country’s 4x400m relay to the gold medal is set to receive TT$375,000.
According to the Trinidad Guardian, athletes competing in relay team events will earn $125,000 each for a gold medal, $62,500 for silver and for bronze, $31,250. Individual gold medals get a whopping TT$250,000.
That means Dwight St Hillaire, Asa Guevara and Machel Cedenio will each get $125,000 and the members of the 4x100 metres team - Jerod Elcock, Eric Harrison Jnr, Kion Benjamin and Kyle Greaux - will each get $62,500 for their silver medal run.
Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls, silver medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England have attracted a lucrative three-year contract from Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, the company announced on Sunday.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was one of several high-profile athletes to miss the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
In July, Fraser-Pryce won her fifth 100m World title with a 10.67 clocking at the World Championships in Eugene. She also won silver medals in the 200m (21.81) and 4x100m. With just a week between the end of the World Championships and the start of the Track and Field program at the Commonwealth Games, Fraser-Pryce explained that the short turnaround wasn’t ideal for her.
“Well, the Commonwealth Games was just never on the agenda for me this year,” 2022’s fastest woman explained in an interview with Mirror. “Especially because I did the double at the World Championships, it took a lot out of me to do, and the 4x100m.”
"So, to come back maybe a week or two after to do another three rounds and possibly two in the 4x100m, my coach said that would probably be too much for me to handle right now if I’m thinking about longevity and wanting to get to Paris 2024, so I had to be strategic about that,” she added.
Sunshine Girl and Commonwealth Games silver medalist Shadian Hemmings has announced her retirement from international netball, Netball Jamaica announced in an Instagram post on Monday.
“Thank you Shadian. We wish you all the best in your next chapter,” the post said.
“Not sure I’ll be able to find words. Going off with a bang! A silver medal is a great accomplishment. Proud of my team. I guess it’s time to go back to watching you on my T.V. I would say until next time but I guess it’s goodbye,” Hemmings wrote on her own page.
The Sunshine Girls won silver at the Commonwealth games in Birmingham, England after a narrow 51-55 defeat to Australia on Sunday.
Facing the number-one team in the world twice in the same tournament proved a hill too steep to climb for Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls on Sunday after losing 55-51 to the now four-time Commonwealth Games champions Australia in the gold medal match at the NEC Arena.
Despite heroic efforts from Captain Jhanielle Fowler who scored 46 goals from 47 attempts and a perfect five from Shanice Beckford, Jamaica found the Diamonds too hard to break the second time around.
Jamaica defeated Australia 57-55 to win Pool A in the preliminary rounds and followed up with an emphatic 67-51 victory over New Zealand, the second-best team in the world that claimed the bronze medal Sunday morning after defeating England 55-48.
In the gold-medal encounter, the Australians edged Jamaica 14-12 in a keenly contested first quarter but the Jamaicans showed grit rebounding to win the second quarter 17-15 to see both teams remain deadlocked at the half-time break.
Australia broke the game open in the third quarter outscoring the Jamaicans 16-10 to take a six-point lead into the final stanza. Australia extended the lead to seven goals late in the quarter but Jamaica was not prepared to yield and fought valiantly outscoring the champions 12-10 but it was simply not enough.
Jamaica missed only one shot from 52 attempts during the final.
Gretel Bueta led the scoring for the Commonwealth champions, shooting a perfect 37 goals from 37 attempts. Cara Koenen was also perfect scoring 15 goals from 15 attempts.
The Sunshine Girls will leave Birmingham with a silver medal their highest ever placing at the Commonwealth Games.
Sada Williams created history on Sunday when she became the first Barbadian woman to win a gold medal in the 400m on the penultimate day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah successfully completed the sprint double at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games after dominating the women’s 200m on Saturday.
Days after claiming her first 100m title at the Games, the Jamaican stormed away from the field to stop the clock at 22.02 a new Games record. The sprinter got off to a solid start and nearly covered the field by the curve before pulling away down the stretch.
Nigeria’s Favour Ofili was second in 22.51, with Namibia’s Christine Mboma third in 22.80. The second Jamaican in the race Natalliah Whyte missed out on the medal podium after finishing fourth in 23.06.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards uncorked a punishing run to successfully defend the men’s 200m title, with a new Games record, at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
In one of the best performances of his career, Richards ate up the track, and his opponents, to finish near five metres clear in a new personal best of 19.80.
Heading into the final, the talk surrounded a rematch between Richards and British sprinter Zharnel Hughes who finished ahead of the Trinidadian at the last edition of the Games but was disqualified for impeding him, after the athletes’ arms came together.
This time around, there could be no such complaints as the Richards blasted through the first half of the race, came off the curve first, and powered away from the field. Hughes was second in a season-best 20.12, with Ghana’s Joseph Paul Amoah finishing third in 20.49.
With the victory, Richards became the third athlete to successfully defend the 200m title at the event, behind Jamaican Donald Quarrie and Namibia's Frankie Fredricks.
Janieve Russell successfully defended her title and Shiann Salmon took silver but a hoped-for clean sweep of the Women’s 400m Hurdles did not materialize at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Saturday.
It was South Africa’s Zeney van der Walt who played the role of a party crasher, unfurling a gritty, brilliant late run to deny the third Jamaican measured for the podium, Rushell Clayton, a place on the platform.
Clayton had looked a lock for the medals early on, even leading the race at the top of the bend, just ahead of Russell. Even after Russell surged past the three Jamaicans were well clear of the field with five metres to go but nobody saw van der Walt. Clayton tied up badly just metres from the line and the South African surged past, her late run taking her almost into second spot.
The Australian finished in 54.47 a new personal best and the same time as Salmon. Russell finished well clear with 54.14 and Clayton further back in 54.67.
It was certainly a Wolmer's reunion when Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce came to the JOA's Commonwealth Manor at the very "vibes" Edgbaston Hotel and Conference Centre in Birmingham where the Commonwealth Games is taking place.
JOA President, Christopher Samuda, and JOA Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster, who both hail from the prominent Marescaux Road educational institution, Wolmer's Boys' School, welcomed their "sistren' Shelly-Ann, who attended Wolmer's Girls' School, and was on a doctor's visit to Birmingham.
The Commonwealth Manor in Birmingham is the second edition of the current administration of the JOA, the first having been held at the snazzy and popular Helm Bar in the Gold Coast, Australia, where the 2018 Games took place.
Shelly-Ann said "yes this is Wolmer's" in an evident show of scholastic camaraderie as she identified with the governors of JOA.
Samuda, in embracing the collegiate and national spirit, stated: "We are Wolmerians, the maroon and gold champions, and black, green and gold patriots" while Foster, inspired by the enviable history of his alma mater, was moved to say "changemakers and innovators we are and servant leaders we will always be"
The BBC is a global name and the Jamaica Olympic Association is a household name and therefore it was natural for both to meet in Birmingham at the JOA's Commonwealth Manor, being hosted by Jamaica's apex governing body for Olympic and non-Olympic sports at the 2022 Commonwealth Games now underway in the city of Birmingham.
It was an amiable meeting with Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who had lively exchanges with JOA Directors, Christopher Samuda, Ryan Foster, Jacqueline Cowan and Nichole Case and BBC producers who had a riveting conversation with Jamaica's 'Mummy Rocket" through the lens of the camera.
It was more than a "feel good" meeting as sport was on display uniting stakeholders who all share a common bond - "sport" - that impacts a global citizenry at play.
JOA Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster, said: "Sport is the winner here and if we all play by the rules the game of life would be inspiring and peaceful."
It was a meeting of the minds and the natural beauty of the undulating green and flowered gardens of Edgbaston Hotel made it more tranquil. "This is sport and nature creating a conversation the value of which is priceless" JOA President, Christopher Samuda, said.
The JOA's Commonwealth Manor comes to a successful end on August 3 with Jamaica Night when members of the Jamaican diaspora, including dignitaries and business interests, will continue to meet and greet officials, athletes and coaches of the Jamaican delegation to the Commonwealth Games.
It is public knowledge that Jamaica's prowess in the field events has become known on the global stage and the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) salutes our champions in the field who are toiling diligently and valiantly in making fertile the soil in sport.
The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games is witnessing the continued growth and development of the field sports which augurs very well for the future.
JOA President, Christopher Samuda, in acknowledging the advancement of the field sports stated: "Shanieka Ricketts' admirable performance in accomplishing that gold in the triple jump - her first major title - and in so doing writing her name indelibly in the history book of the Commonwealth Games demonstrates that our footprints go deep and are well established in the sand."
Travis Smikle, a seasoned campaigner, hurled the discus in Birmingham in securing the bronze medal in the men's event which is well decorated with Fedrick Dacres, our national record holder and former Olympic Solidarity Scholarship recipient, and Chad Wright. O'Dayne Richards, a JOA Scholarship awardee who placed sixth in the finals of the men's shot put in Birmingham, is an experienced soldier with gold medals in his cabinet.
"We are proud of our women and men in the field events who continue to be an inspiration to generations of youth who aspire to emulate them and who the JOA salute with the greatest of respect" JOA Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster, said with evident pride.
The golden leap of Lamara Distin in the women's high jump and the bronze achievement of Kimberly Williamson in that event are crowning moments for independence. "At a time when we are celebrating independence it is uplifting to know that landmark achievements in various sports are being established as we, in the JOA, pursue our mandate 'sport for all, all for sport" Foster said.
Kimberly Williams, a celebrated medalist, and a Ackelia Smith, who leapt to a personal best at the games, both represented our nation well in the finals of the triple jump and "exemplify the character and mettle of our national ambassadors who are establishing milestones and creating legacies in sport" Samuda remarked.
Jamaican World Championships silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts went one better at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday, taking gold in the Women’s triple jump.
Ricketts, who got silver four years ago, won with a Commonwealth Games record 14.94m which she did in the first round.
Dominica’s Thea Lafond made it a Caribbean 1-2 by taking the silver with 14.39m ahead of England’s Naomi Metzger (14.37m).
Elaine Thompson-Herah will get an opportunity to win her second gold medal after advancing to the final of the Women’s 200m.
The double Olympic champion, who ran 10.95 to win the 100m on Wednesday, cruised to 22.63 to win semi-final three and advance to Saturday’s final.
Her Jamaican teammate Natalliah Whyte will also be in the final after running 23.09 to finish second in semi-final one.
On the Men’s side, Trinidad & Tobago’s Jereem Richards will get an opportunity to defend his title from 2018 after running 20.40 to win semi-final three and advance.
In the 400m, Barbadian World Championships bronze medallist Sada Williams will be in the final after running 51.59 to win semi-final two. Jamaica’s Junelle Bromfield also advanced from that race as a fastest loser courtesy of a 52.18 effort to finish fourth.
Jonathan Jones ran 45.82 to win semi-final two and advance on the Men's side. Joining him in the final will be Jamaica's Anthony Cox who ran 45.98 for third in semi-final one and nathon Allen who was second in semi-final three with 45.99.
Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper, 2015 World champion Danielle Williams and 2022 World Indoor silver medallist Devynne Charlton all advanced to the final of the Women’s 100m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday.
Jamaica’s Tapper and The Bahamas’ Charlton ran times of 12.68 and 12.70, respectively, to finish first and second in heat two and advance.
Williams advances after finishing second in heat one in 12.80 behind England’s Cindy Sember (12.67).
World Champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria qualified for the final fastest with a time of 12.40 to win heat three.
Jamaica also qualified for the final of the Men’s 4x400m relay after a second-place finish in heat one.
The quartet of Karayme Bartley, Anthony Cox, Navasky Anderson and Javon Francis combined to run 3:05.20 to finish behind Botswana (3:05.11).
Trinidad & Tobago (3:07.12) and Barbados (3:07.23) finished third and fourth in heat two and also booked spots in the final.
In the field, Jamaica’s Ackelia Smith (6.35m) and Trinidad & Tobago’s Tyra Gittens (6.28m) both advanced to the final of the Women’s long jump.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
