Cuba was victorious in both genders of the recently concluded Varadero Beach Volleyball Tournament in Varadero Cuba, the second stop of the 2022 Norceca Beach Volleyball Tour.
Leila Martinez and Lidy Echeverría were crowned at home as queens of the women's segment. The pair of Martínez and Echeverría prevailed against Canadians Emma Glagau and Ruby Sorra 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-12) in a close duel. USA pair of Iya Lindhal and Alexandra Wheeler won third place after defeating Guatemalans Natalia Girón and Laura Quiñones 2-0 (21-14, 21-19).
Miguel Ayón and Yosvani Carrasco completed the Cuban double victory. Ayon and Carrasco scored a comfortable 2-0 (21-13, 21-17) win over the American duo of Travis Mewhirter and Thimothy Brewster. Third place went to another Cuban pair Jorge Luis Alayo and Noslen Díaz who edged Americans Ryan Smith and Michael Boag 2-1 (18-21, 21-12, 15-12).
The Jamaican pair of Ryck Webb and Noley Ferguson placed 14th of 16 teams. Coming into the tournament the Jamaicans were seeded 15. They played and lost their first two games against the eventual 2nd and 4th place teams USA A and USA B.
General Secretary of the Jamaica Volleyball Association, Audley Weir is optimistic based on the performances of the team.
“Jamaica did well under challenging circumstances. We saw a lot of positives from this trip. The team was very competitive against the Americans who are a volleyball powerhouse in the World. We will regroup and prepare for the next tournament,” Weir said.
Jamaica was the highest placed team from the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) region. The Jamaican women’s team will participate in the next leg of the Norceca Beach Circuit which will be held in La Paz, Mexico from May 13 – 16, 2022.
Canada blanked the Dominican Republic 10-0 in their opening match of the CONCACAF U17 Women’s Championships to move to the top of Group F on goal difference over Jamaica on Sunday.
A women’s pair of Chauna Kelly and Petal Smith will depart Jamaica on Friday for the Dominican Republic where they will participate in the Beach World Championship Qualifiers from April 16-18, 2022.
Jamaica will play in Group A alongside Canada, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Curacao. Group B comprises Cuba, Mexico, US Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and the Cayman Islands.
Each team will play in a round-robin format with the top two teams from each group advancing to the 2022 Beach Volleyball World Championship which will take place in Rome, Italy from June 7th to 19th, 2022.
Jamaica is resuming competition in beach volleyball after a two-year hiatus prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The team will be accompanied by Coach Oneil Ebanks.
Goals from Kameron Simmonds and Christina Salmon led Jamaica to a 3-0 victory over Cuba at the Concacaf U20 Women Championships in the Dominican Republic on Monday.
Women’s 4x400 Metres
Cuba and Jamaica both advanced to the final.
The Cuban team of Zurian Hechevarria, Rose Mary Almanza, Sahily Diago and Lisneidy Veitia ran 3:24.04 to finish second in heat 1.
Junelle Bromfield, Roniesha McGregor, Janieve Russell and Stacey Ann Williams formed the Jamaican quartet that finished second in heat 2 to advance with 3:21.95.
The Bahamas quartet of Doneisha Anderson
Megan Moss, Brianne Bethel and Anthonique Strachan also competed in heat 1 but did not finish the race.
Men’s 400 Metres
The Caribbean secured two more medals in the men’s 400 metres.
Bahamian Steven Gardiner won gold in a time of 43.85 and Grenada’s Kirani James secured bronze in 44.19.
This is Gardiner’s second straight global gold medal after winning at the 2019 Doha World Championships.
James has now won 400 metres medals at the last three Olympics after winning gold in London in 2012 and silver in Rio 2016.
Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor was also in the final and finished sixth in a new personal best 44.79.
Women’s 400 Metres
Five Caribbean women advanced to the final.
Marileidy Paulino of The Dominican Republic won semi-final 1 in a national record of 49.38 to advance.
Jamaica’s Candice McLeod and Cuba’s Roxana Gomez also progressed from semi-final 1.
McLeod ran a personal best of 49.51 to finish second and advance automatically while Gomez finished third in a personal best 49.71 and advanced in a fastest loser spot.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo advanced by running 49.60 to win the second semi-final.
Jamaica’s Roniesha McGregor and Guyana’s Aliyah Abrams were also in semi-final 2 but failed to advance, finishing third in 50.34 and seventh in 51.46 respectively.
Stephenie Ann McPherson won semi-final 3 in a personal best 49.34 to qualify.
Sada Williams finished third in that race in a national record of 50.11 but that wasn’t enough to get her into the final.
Men’s 200 Metres
Canadian Andre DeGrasse ran a Canadian record 19.62 to take gold.
DeGrasse, silver medalist behind Usain Bolt at the 2016 Rio games, will be joined on the podium by Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles.
Bednarek ran a personal best 19.68 for silver and Lyles ran a season’s best 19.74 for bronze.
Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer finished 7th in 20.21 and Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago finished 8th in 20.39.
Women’s High Jump
St. Lucian Levern Spencer finished 22nd in qualifying.
Women’s 4x100 Metres Relay
The Jamaican team consisting of Briana Williams, Natasha Morrison, Remona Burchell and Shericka Jackson ran 42.15 to finish third in heat 1 and advance to the final.
Men’s 4x100 Metres Relay
Jamaica qualified for the final after running the fastest time in the heats.
The team of Jevaughn Minzie, Julian Forte, Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville ran a time of 37.82 to win heat 1.
Trinidad & Tobago were also in heat 1 and finished 6th with a time of 38.63.
Their team consisted of Kion Benjamin, Eric Harrison, Akanni Hislop and Richard Thompson, silver medalist from the 2008 Beijing games.
Men’s 110 Metres Hurdles
Jamaica secured two medals in the final of the men’s 110 metres hurdles.
Hansle Parchment, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, ran a season’s best of 13.04 to win gold ahead of the prohibitive favourite, Grant Holloway of the USA, who took silver in 13.09.
Ronald Levy ran 13.10 for bronze, his first Olympic medal.
Women’s Discus
Cuba’s Yaime Perez secured a bronze medal with a throw of 65.72.
Shadae Lawrence of Jamaica finished 7th with a distance of 62.12, which she did in the second round.
The gold medal went to Valarie Allman of the USA with 68.98 and Germany’s Kristin Pudenz was second with a personal best of 66.86.
Men’s 400 Metres
Three Caribbean men will be in the final of the men’s 400 metres.
Semi-final 1 saw Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James run his fastest time since the 2016 Olympic final.
James won the race in 43.88 to advance to his third straight Olympic 400 metres final and will be seeking a third straight medal.
Trinidadian Deon Lendore was also in semi-final 1 and finished fourth in 44.93.
Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor finished second in semi-final 2 to advance to his first Olympic final with a season’s best 44.92.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Machel Cedenio and Alonzo Russell of the Bahamas finished seventh and eighth respectively with times of 45.86 and 46.04.
Bahamian 2019 World Champion Steven Gardiner ran 44.14 to win the third semi-final and advance.
Jamaica’s Demish Gaye finished fourth in 45.09, Trinidad & Tobago’s Dwight St. Hillaire finished seventh in 45.58 and Jonathan Jones of Barbados finished eighth in 45.61.
Women’s 400 Metre Hurdles
Jamaica’s Janieve Russell finished second in semi-final 1 in 54.10 to advance to the final.
Panama’s Gianna Woodruff ran a national record of 54.22 to finish second in semi-final 2 and advance.
Semi-final 2 also saw Cuba’s Zurian Echevarria finish fourth in 55.21 and Barbados’ Tia-Adana Belle finished eighth in 59.26.
Men’s Triple Jump
Cristian Napoles of Cuba was the only Caribbean man to advance to the final.
Napoles jumped 17.08 to finish fourth in qualifying.
Jamaica’s Carey McLeod, who also competed in the long jump at these Olympics, finished 24th in qualifying with a jump of 16.01.
Women’s 400 Metres
The Caribbean will be well represented in the semi-finals.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo turned up for heat 1 and ran 50.50 to easily win and advance to the semi-finals.
In fact, the top 4 women in heat 1 all hail from the Caribbean and all advanced to the semi-finals.
Roxana Gomez of Cuba finished second in 50.76 to get through automatically.
Sada Williams of Barbados also got through automatically after finishing third in 51.36.
Guyana’s Aliyah Abrams finished fourth and advanced to the semi-finals in one of the fastest loser spots.
Grenada’s Meleni Rodney competed in heat 2 and unfortunately failed to finish.
Jamaica’s Roniesha McGregor advanced to the semis from heat 3 after finishing second in 51.14.
Candice McLeod from Jamaica won heat 4 in 51.09 to progress.
Heat 5 was also won by a Jamaican as Stephenie Ann-McPherson won in 50.89.
Marileidy Paulino of The Dominican Republic ran the fastest time in qualifying to win heat 6 in 50.06.
Women’s Long Jump
Tyra Gittens of Trinidad & Tobago finished 10th in the final with a distance of 6.60m.
Chantal Malone of the British Virgin Islands was also in the final and finished 12th with a jump of 6.50.
Malaika Mihambo of Germany jumped 7.00m for the gold medal while silver and bronze went to Brittney Reese of the USA and Ese Brume of Nigeria respectively.
Both Reese and Brume jumped 6.97 but Reese finished second on countback.
Men’s 200 Metres
Four Caribbean men advanced to the semi-finals.
Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer won heat 1 of the men’s 200 metres in a time of 20.30.
Bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships, Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago, easily won heat 2 in 20.52 to advance.
Kyle Greaux of Trinidad & Tobago finished fourth in heat 3 in 20.77.
Silver medallist back at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, Panama’s Alonso Edward, finished second in heat 4 in 20.60 to progress.
Yancarlos Martinez from The Dominican Republic finished second in heat 6 with a national record of 20.17 to advance to the semi-finals.
Julian Forte of Jamaica finished seventh in heat 7 with a time of 20.65.
Men’s 400 Metres Hurdles
Kyron McMaster ran 47.08 in the men’s 400 metres hurdles final and unbelievably finished fourth.
Karsten Warholm won his first Olympic gold medal in what may go down as the greatest performance in Olympic track and field history.
The Norwegian ran a ridiculous world record of 45.94 to break his own previous mark of 46.70 by almost a full second.
American Rai Benjamin finished second in a new American record of 46.17 and Brazil’s Alisson Dos Santos finished third in a new personal best and South American record 46.72.
Jamaica’s Megan Tapper claimed the country’s first bronze medal in the women’s 100m hurdles after battling to the line in Tokyo on Saturday.
Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who is unbeaten this season, followed up an Olympic record of 12.26 in the semi-finals by running 12.36 to win her first Olympic gold medal, five years after hitting a hurdle and crashing out at the semi-final stage in Rio.
Tapper ran 12.55 to win the bronze medal. The world record holder, Keni Harrison of the USA, won silver in 12.52 to also secure her first Olympic medal.
Bahamian Devynne Charlton finished 6th in 12.74 and Jamaica’s Brittany Anderson finished 8th in 13.24.
Men’s Long Jump
The Caribbean secured two medals in the men’s long jump after Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarria and Maykel Masso finished second and third with jumps of 8.41 and 8.21 respectively.
The gold medalist, Miltiadis Tentoglu of Greece, also jumped 8.41 but was determined as the outright winner on countback because his second-longest jump of 8.15 was longer than Echevarria’s second-longest of 8.09.
Jamaica’s reigning world champion, Tajay Gayle, valiantly made an attempt to compete after picking up a left knee injury in qualifying. Jumping with heavy strapping on that knee, Gayle fouled his first two attempts before registering 7.69 on his third to finish 11th overall.
Women’s Triple Jump
Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica narrowly missed out on a medal. Ricketts finished fourth after leaping out to 14.84 on her fourth-round attempt.
The Jamaican was in third place going into the fifth round until Spain’s Ana Peleteiro produced a national record of 14.87 to overtake Ricketts and secure the bronze medal.
The competition also saw Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas win her first Olympic gold medal by jumping to a new world record of 15.67 metres, breaking the previous mark of 15.50 set at the 1995 World Championships by Ukrainian Inessa Kravets.
The other Jamaican in the final, Kimberly Williams, finished eighth with a jump of 14.51.
Men’s 400 metres Hurdles
Only one Caribbean athlete advanced to the final. Both Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands and Jaheel Hyde of Jamaica lined up in semi-final 3 and with 100 metres to go, they both looked in good shape to get to the final.
Unfortunately, Hyde hit the eighth hurdle badly and fell, taking him out of contention.
He ended up jogging to the finish in a time of 1:27.38.
McMaster went on to win the semi-final in 48.26 and advance to his first Olympic final.
Men’s 100m
No Caribbean men advanced to the final of the men’s 100 metres as Jamaica’s Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville both came up short in their semi-final races.
Blake finished sixth in semi-final 1 in 10.14 and Seville finished fourth in semi-final 2 in 10.09.
The final eventually saw Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs take gold in 9.80 ahead of the USA’s Fred Kerley who ran 9.84 for second and Canada’s Andre DeGrasse who ran 9.89 for third, his second successive Olympic 100 metres bronze medal.
All three men recorded personal bests in the race.
Women’s 1500 Metres
Jamaica’s Aisha Praught-Leer competed in heat 2 of the women’s 1500 metres despite injury and finished 13th in a time of 4:15.31.
Women’s 200 Metres
Four Caribbean women advanced to the semi-finals of the 200 metres.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas finished second in heat 1 with a time of 22.40 to advance.
100 metres silver medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was next to confirm her spot in the next round, comfortably winning heat 2 in 22.22.
Heat 5 was won by Bahamian Anthonique Strachan in 22.76 but the biggest story from that race was Shericka Jackson of Jamaica.
The 100 metres bronze medalist failed to advance after easing up at the line and being passed Italy’s Dalia Kaddari.
100 metres gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica was very conservative in heat 6, finishing third in 22.86 to secure her spot in the semi-finals.
Dominica’s Thea LaFond set a new national record, in the Women’s Triple Jump, to lead four of the region’s women into the final as session 2 and more Caribbean athletes beginning their quest for success.
Lafond jumped a national record of 14.60 to advance, the second-longest jump of the qualifying round behind the 14.77 done by Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela who is the gold medal favourite.
Liadagmis Povea of Cuba qualified in 5th with a jump of 14.50. Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts, a silver medalist at the 2019 Doha World Championships, needed only one jump to qualify in 6th place.
To qualify for the final automatically an athlete needs to jump 14.40 and Ricketts did 14.43 on her 1st attempt.
Kimberley Williams of Jamaica was the last Caribbean athlete to qualify for the final, jumping 14.30 to finish 9th.
Women’s Shot Put – Trinidad and Tobago’s Warren claims spot in final
The women’s shot put only saw one Caribbean athlete advance to the final, Trinidad & Tobago’s Portious Warren. Warren threw a personal best 18.75 to finish 9th and advance to the 12-competitor final.
Jamaicans Danniel Thomas-Dodd and Lloydrica Cameron both missed out on a place in the final.
Thomas-Dodd, a silver medalist at the 2019 World Championships, finished 13th with a distance of 18.37, one spot outside a place in the final.
Cameron finished 21st in qualifying with a distance of 17.43.
Caribbean teams were also involved in the heats of the mixed 4x400m relay.
The Dominican Republic qualified for the final after finishing 2nd in heat 1 with a time of 3:12.74.
The 2nd heat saw the Jamaican team qualify for the final after a 3rd place finish.
The team comprising of Sean Bailey, Junelle Bromfield, Stacey Ann Williams, and Karayme Bartley ran 3:11.76.
Women’s 400mh – Jamaica’s Russell advances but mishaps for Nugent, Whyte
The women’s 400 Hurdles saw four Caribbean women advance to the semi-finals and two suffering unfortunate mishaps.
Jamaica’s Janieve Russell advanced to the semi-finals after finishing second in heat 2 with a composed 54.81 clocking.
Russell’s Jamaican teammate, Leah Nugent, originally finished second in heat 3 but was later disqualified due to lane infringement.
Gianna Woodruff of Panama originally finished third in heat 3 but was upgraded to second after Nugent’s disqualification and subsequently advanced to the semis.
Ronda Whyte of Jamaica lined up in heat four and was expected to comfortably advance but it was not to be as she, unfortunately, committed a false start.
Tia-Adana Belle of Barbados finished second in heat 4 with a time of 55.69 to advance.
Zurian Hechavarria of Cuba finished fifth in heat 5 and advanced to the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers.
Women’s discus – Jamaica’s Lawrence, Cuba’s Perez advance to final
The women’s discus saw Shadae Lawrence of Jamaica and Yaime Perez of Cuba advance to the final.
Lawrence threw 62.27 to finish 11th in qualifying. Perez, the gold medalist at the 2019 Doha World Championships, threw 63.18 to finish seventh in qualifying.
Denia Caballero of Cuba was the only other Caribbean woman in qualifying, throwing 57.96 to finish 23rd overall in qualifying.
No Caribbean men advanced past the heats in the men’s 800 metres.
Women’s sprint hurdles – Jamaica’s Tapper runs personal best
The women’s sprint hurdles heats were largely successful for Caribbean athletes.
Haiti’s Mulern Jean was the only Caribbean woman that failed to advance past the first round after finishing fifth in heat 2 in 12.99.
Heat 3 saw both Yanique Thompson of Jamaica and Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas advancing to the semi-finals, with Thompson running 12.74 to finish second and Charlton finishing fourth in 12.84.
Heat 4 also saw two Caribbean women advance as Brittany Anderson ran 12.67 to win and Pedrya Seymour of the Bahamas ran 13.04 to finish fourth.
Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran 12.41, the fastest time in the heats, to win heat 5 ahead of Megan Tapper of Jamaica, who ran a personal best 12.53 for 2nd.
St Vincent and the Grenadines will play a second consecutive home match away from home, with its upcoming CONCACAF World Cup qualifier against Cuba booked for the Kirani James Athletics Stadium, in Grenada.
The match, which was originally scheduled for the Arnos Vale Stadium for June 8, however, existing protocols, including quarantine, means that it would not be possible for the country to host the event. The match is set to kick off at 4 pm, the St Vincent and the Grenadines versus Cuba encounter will precede Grenada against Montserrat, which takes place at 7 pm.
Prior to this round, St Vincent and the Grenadines played a home ‘match’ against the British Virgin Islands at the Ergillo Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao. The Vincy Heat emerged 3-0 winners from the match.
The team is just one of several who will see their fixtures altered as countries around the region continue to battle the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Other teams expected to be playing their upcoming home matches away are Aruba, the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Montserrat, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Anguilla, and Puerto Rico.
With two matches played in the first round of the qualifiers, St Vincent and the Grenadine are currently third in Group C behind Curaçao and second place Guatemala.
Haiti will take on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala faces Guyana while Trinidad and Tobago will go up against Monserrat when Round One of the preliminaries of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off on July 2 and 3 at Inter Miami CF Stadium in Florida.
Cuba will tackle French Guiana, Guadeloupe will battle The Bahamas and Bermuda go up against Barbados in what will be the first time ever that the competition will have preliminaries that will see three teams qualify for the 16-team Group Stage.
“We look forward with great anticipation to this summer’s Gold Cup, which will undoubtedly be enhanced by this new Preliminary Round,” said Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani.
“The past year has been very challenging in our region and our thoughts are with all the communities that have suffered. We hope the opportunity to watch the best men’s national teams in Concacaf compete in our flagship tournament can provide fans with some hope and enjoyment
All 12 of the competing nations in the Prelims will get a full Gold Cup experience at the excellent Inter Miami facilities and we look forward to a great set of games.”
“We look forward to hosting the Gold Cup Prelims tournament in our stadium,” said Inter Miami CF Managing Owner Jorge Mas. “Our facilities in Fort Lauderdale were built with the intent of giving our fans opportunities to enjoy the world’s game knowing that our vibrant culture and sports-centric region would be attractive for global teams and competitions. This is just the beginning of the great things that lie ahead.”
Round Two will begin on July 6 when the winner of the Haiti/St Vincent clash will take on the winner of the Bermuda/Barbados matchup. The winner of the Guatemala/Guyana encounter will play the winner of the Guadeloupe/Bahamas match. And finally, the winner of the Cuba/French Guiana match will tackle the winner of the Trinidad and Tobago/Montserrat clash.
The winning nation in each of the three Round Two matchups will advance to the Group Stage of the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, where they were drawn into Group A, B and C as follows:
Group A: Mexico, El Salvador, Curacao, and Winner Prelims 9
Group B: USA, Canada, Martinique, and Winner Prelims 7
Group C: Costa Rica, Jamaica, Suriname, and Winner Prelims 8
Group D: Honduras, Panama, Grenada, and Qatar.
The 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup group stage will kick off on July 10 and run through August 1, 2021, and will feature 16 national teams, of which Canada, Costa Rica, Curaçao, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, eight-time and defending champion Mexico, Panama, Suriname, six-time champion the United States, are already qualified to the group stage of the tournament. Additionally, Qatar has been invited to the tournament as the current champion and representative of the Asian Football Confederation.
The remaining three countries will qualify through the Gold Cup Prelims, in which 12 Member Associations will compete for the final three spots, to be played July 2-6- at Inter Miami CF Stadium in South Florida.
St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, The Dominican Republic and Guatemala opened their World Cup qualifying campaigns with victories on Wednesday night.
CONCACAF has announced the cancellation of both its Under-17 and Under-20 youth championships in light of FIFA’s recent announcement to shutter the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Men’s World Cups, scheduled to take place in Peru and Indonesia later this year.
The U-20 tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Honduras between 20 June and 5 July 2020. However, following the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was initially pushed forward to later this year. The U-17 competition suffered a similar fate.
With the spread of the virus continuing to affect safety concerns and travelling ability, FIFA announced the decision to cancel both tournaments last week. With the CONCACAF tournaments serving as qualifiers for the World Cups, the confederation decided to follow suit. As part of the decision, FIFA announced the next editions will be held in 2023 at the venues that were to host the 2021 editions of the tournaments.
Jamaica (1999, 2011), Trinidad and Tobago (2001, 2007) and Haiti (2007, 2019), and Cuba (1989, 1991) are the Caribbean teams to have qualified for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup editions. At the Under-20 level Trinidad and Tobago (1991, 2009) Jamaica (2001), and Cuba (2013) have qualified to the finals.
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