Scores of children turned out in the community of Rockfort in Kingston on Friday as the residents were treated to a Christmas treat by Reggae Boy Damion Lowe. 

The Jamaica vice-captain provided gifts to over 200 children at the Marcus Garvey Square on Glasspole Avenue. 

Accompanied by representatives of his local sponsors, Digicel, and members of his management team, the 28-year-old, who was the sole Jamaican named to the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI, handed gifts to the children as they came out in their numbers to greet him. 

The initiative is meant to be an inaugural event for the community that was also home to his father and former Reggae Boy, Onandi Lowe. 

Lowe considers himself blessed and wants to extend that to the residents of Rockfort. 

“It has been a good year for me; I know how important Christmas is to the little ones and this Treat will put a smile on their faces. I have to thank my sponsors Digicel for showing up in a big way by providing all the gifts,” said Lowe. 

“Hopefully next year, after the pandemic, we can have amusement rides for the children as well,” Lowe added.

Lowe currently represents Al-Ittihad in the Egyptian Premier League and has made 35 appearances for the Reggae Boyz, scoring two goals.

He was yesterday named in the Reggae Boyz squad for their friendly against Peru and will likely captain the team for the game with regular skipper Andre Blake being rested.

The Cricket West Indies (CWI) interim selection panel has announced the squads for the upcoming series against Ireland and England.

Captain Kieron Pollard is fit again and returns to lead both the ODI and T20 sides that will battle the Irish in three ODIs and one T20I at Sabina Park, in Jamaica, starting January 8.

The CG Insurance ODI Series between West Indies and Ireland will form part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, in which the top seven teams can secure automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.

The West Indies are currently eighth in those standings with 40 points, while Ireland sits fourth with 50.

The Caribbean side will then play five T20 Internationals against England, in Barbados, beginning on January 22.

“We have tried to maintain the general make-up of the squads from the Pakistan tour before Christmas, with the captain and some senior players coming back in. The challenges in the next couple of months are getting the young players in both squads to not only improve on their skills but maintain the attitude and desire we saw in Pakistan,” said West Indies coach Phil Simmons.

Simmons also emphasized the need for his team to start the year on a good note.

“We do need to start the year on a high. We know both Ireland and England have very good teams so we expect a very strong challenge as we look to improve our chances of automatic qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023 and building the team for the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022,” Simmons added.

ODI squad for the Ireland Series: Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope (vice-captain), Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Devon Thomas, and the COVID-19 reserves are Keacy Carty and Sheldon Cottrell.

T20I squad for Ireland and England Series: Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Fabian Allen (England T20Is only), Darren Bravo (England T20Is only), Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Jason Holder, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr, and the COVID-19 reserves are Jayden Seales, Alzarri Joseph, and Devon Thomas.

Fabian Allen is fully recovered from an ankle injury but is unavailable for the Ireland series after a positive COVID-19 test.

Interim Jamaica Reggae Boyz head coach Paul Hall has named a 23-man squad for the upcoming international friendly against Peru in Lima on January 20.

“The date of the game does not fall within the FIFA window so none of the Europe and Central America based players were called,” the JFF stated in a release today.

Hall is using this game as an opportunity to assess players that are unfamiliar to him and as such, has left out regular members of the squad like captain Andre Blake, Oneil Fisher and Alvas Powell.

All the players, including those not called on this occasion, have made themselves available and are committed to being ready for the three World Cup qualifying games from January 27 to February 2.

 The 23-man squad for those games will assemble in Jamaica on January 24^th while the squad for the Peru game will assemble in Jamaica on January 13^th.

The full squad is as follows: Dwayne Miller, Jeadine White, Amal Knight, Damion Lowe, Richard King, Jamoi Topey, Javain Brown, Kemar Lawrence, Je-Vaughn Watson, Kevon Lambert, Tevin Shaw, Ramone Howell, Devon Williams, Peter-Lee Vassell, Lamar Walker, Alex Marshall, Dwayne Atkinson, Deshane Beckford, Kaheem Parris, Devonte Campbell, Jourdain Fletcher, Cory Burke, Oquassa Chong.

Jamaica's treble Tokyo Olympic Games gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah has been named the AIPS Best Female Athlete of 2021.

This follows a poll by the International Sports Press Association, where a panel of 529 journalists from 114 countries voted for the champions of 2021. Joining Thompson-Herah in receiving the top honour is Polish footballer Robert Lewandowski, who has been named the AIPS Best Male Athlete of 2021.

The former Manchester High School student, who was named the World Female Athlete of the Year at the World Athletics Awards 2021 earlier this month, retained her Olympic 100m and 200m titles in Tokyo and added a third gold medal in the 4x100m relay. She also ran world-leading times of 10.54 and 21.53 over 100m and 200m respectively, moving to second on the world all-time lists for each discipline.

She topped the AIPS poll with 605 points, ahead of Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas (490 points) and Venezuela's world triple jump record-holder and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas (346 points).

Other athletics stars joining Thompson-Herah and Rojas in the top 10 are Kenya's Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who claimed 5000m and 10,000m titles in Tokyo as well as 1500m bronze.

Joining Lewandowski in the top 10 for the men's award are Norway's Karsten Warholm, who was named the World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year, plus his fellow world record-holders and Olympic champions Mondo Duplantis of Sweden and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.

Thompson-Herah has also been named Athletics Weekly’s Female Athlete of the Year, NACAC Female Athlete of the Year and Diamond League Athletics’ Most Consistent Athlete in women’s sprints for 2021.

A grand send-off for legendary Windies T20 star, Chris Gayle, will be played in front of an empty Sabina Park as the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) was not granted permission to allow spectators for the event by the Jamaican government.

With the recent surge in coronavirus infections, and particularly with the threat posed by the new omicron strain, the government under the Disaster Risk Management act, has continued to restrict gatherings.

Gayle, the leading runs scorer in the history of T20 cricket and widely regarded as one of the format’s greatest players was widely expected to retire following the team’s disappointing showing at this year’s T20 World Cup.  However, following the conclusion of the tournament, the player announced that it was possible that he would feature in one more match, which would serve as a farewell event. 

A few weeks ago, Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed that the player would be a part of the T20 squad for the upcoming match against Ireland at Sabina Park.  As such, CWI and the JCA were hoping to have fans present for the event.  Gayle has been part of two World Cup-winning teams for the West Indies.   

West Ham striker Michail Antonio was eager to represent Jamaica’s national team almost a decade ago but was overlooked for players in England football’s lower leagues.

Earlier this year, the England-born player was approached by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), regarding the prospect of representing the Caribbean nation, and agreed to switch nationalities.  Antonio qualifies to represent Jamaica, as both his parents were born on the island.

The striker, now 31, has confirmed, however, that it was not the country’s first attempt to recruit him and that he had in fact been contacted by the JFF while playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 2012.

“When I was 22, the manager of the Reggae Boyz, I can’t remember the name of him, came to Sheffield Wednesday to speak to players saying, ‘would you want to play for Jamaica?’ I said yes, I will come and play 100 percent,” Antonio said during an interview with Sport Bible.

“He said ok, I’ll give you a call, give you some information, bla, bla, bla.  He came and watched me play against Leeds that weekend.  I’m a very honest person, I had a stinker and I’m not going to lie, but I was an established Championship player.  I played in the Championship from 19 through to 25.  The next international break they were calling up players from League One and League 2, wingers, over me, which I didn’t understand,” he added.

In 2012, then president of the JFF captain Horace Burrell travelled to England along with head coach Theodore Whitmore and assistant coach Alfredo Montesso on a scouting mission to recruit players of Jamaican heritage.  Interestingly, Antonio played under Whitmore earlier this year, before the coach was fired in November.  

The player also dismissed reports that he was approached by the federation three years later while playing for Nottingham Forrest.  Insisting that neither he nor his agent ever received an offer at that point, despite claims to the contrary.

Antonio has been an instant hit since donning the country’s national colours, scoring twice in three games, which includes a 30-yard belter against the United States.  Despite the move coming late on in his career and leaving the England national team selection pool, he insists there are no regrets.

“It got to a stage where I just thought, ‘I'm not going to get called up’. I didn’t believe I was going to get the call.  There's loads of quality young strikers out there, he’s trying to build a team for the future. And that Tammy Abraham is young, Dominic Calvert-Lewin is young and Harry Kane is still quite young,” he added.

 “My mum was born in Jamaica and my dad was born in Jamaica. I went to Jamaica all the time when I was younger.  Why not try and see if we can get Jamaica to a World Cup after they’ve not been there for 20 years.

“No regrets whatsoever, I'm enjoying my football with them. And the difference with Jamaica, with England they got to the Euros final and stuff like that but with Jamaica, every achievement is a massive achievement.”  

Reggae Boy striker, Shamar Nicholson, will reportedly not be overly concerned by the noted issues of racism and xenophobia that have plagued Russian football for several years.

The 24-year-old forward recently secured a move to Russian Premier League club Spartak Moscow after spending two years at Belgian club Charleroi.  The move will represent a step up for the Jamaican player, with the Russian club routinely taking part in Europe’s top competitions.

Football in Russia has, however, been plagued by controversy in recent years with fans often known to direct racist and xenophobic chants towards players of different races who represent various clubs.  The issue had become so prominent in recent years that there was a campaign to address the issue ahead of the country's hosting of the 2016 World Cup.

However, according to Nicholson’s agent Kevin Cowan.  Issues pertaining to racism impact players everywhere.

"There is racism everywhere," Cowan told Voetbalkrant.com.

“That shouldn't be a factor. Shouldn't all players be playing in Italy or Russia otherwise?"

"Spartak came and wanted Shamar, then we are not concerned with possible racism. In the long run, he wants to go to an absolute top competition, but this is a nice step and a very nice club."

Jamaica Reggae Boy defenders Alvas Powell and Damion Lowe are the only players to be included in the annual CONCACAF Team of the Year, announced by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

Based on the statistics accumulated for the period Powell, who spent the majority of the season with Major League Soccer (MLS) club Philadelphia Union, before moving to FC Cincinnati, was selected as as the region’s best right back.

Lowe, who plies his trade for the Egyptian club Al-Ittihad was named as part of the team’s reserves.  Back in August, the defender was named as part of the CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI.

The list was dominated by Mexican players, with four members of the El Tri squad named to the line-up.  Club America goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was named in goal, Edson Álvarez takes his place in the backline, Hector Herrera was put in midfield, and Hirving Lozano upfront.  Three Canadians Cyle Larin, Jonathan Davis, and Bayern Munich’s Alphanso David have also been included in the XI.  The list is completed by three players from the United States who are represented by Bruce Aaronson, Weston McKenie, and Miles Robinson.

Named among the substitutes, alongside Lowe, are Matt Turner (USA), Tajon Buchanan (Can), Rogelio Funes Murray (Mex), Ricardo Pepe (USA), Julia Araujo (USA), and Sebastien Vargas Mexico.  Lowe and Powell have been crucial parts of Jamaica’s World Cup squad.  The team, who would best be suited for a 4-3-3 formation, would be coached by Mexico’s Javier Aguirre.

Jamaican double-double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah was named by Diamond League Most Consistent Athlete in the women’s sprints for the 2021 season on Monday.

Thompson-Herah won four races on the Diamond League circuit for the year, in addition to her three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in July.

She ran times of 10.54 and 10.72 to win the 100m at the Eugene and Paris Diamond League meets on August 21^st and August 28^th, respectively, before winning the event at the Diamond League Final in Zurich in 10.65 on September 9^th.

The former Manchester High School student also finished second in the 100m, at the Lausanne Diamond League, in 10.64 on August 26^th.

Her only 200m win on the Diamond League circuit this year came in Gateshead where she ran 22.43 on July 13^th.

The honour follows the trend of a trophy-filled festive period for the sprinter as she has already been named World Female Athlete of the Year by World Athletics, Athletics Weekly’s Female Athlete of the Year, and the NACAC Female Athlete of the Year in the month of December.

She is also widely favored to be named the RJR Sportswoman of the Year for 2021.

The local Track & Field community is in collective mourning after the passing of John Messam.

Messam passed away at 61 on Sunday after a long battle with illness.

The Calabar High School Old Boy was an IT professional, working as an Oracle Database Administrator at the Porth Authority for 22 years.

At the same time, Messam was a respected Track & Field coach, specializing in hurdles events.

A former Florida International University and Seton Hall University student, Messam was also the founder of Hurdles Crew Jamaica, an organization, which was created to enhance the lives of at-risk youth by allowing them to engage in voluntary work at Track & Field meets each year.

Messam was often the man to who Track & Field coaches would send their hurdlers when they needed someone to fix their technique.

Funeral arrangements will be made at a later date.

Jamaican Cyclist Llori Sharpe has made history by signing a one-year contract with German cycling team Canyon-SRAM Generation.

The former St. Andrew High School track & field athlete, who first came to prominence nationally as a triathlete, is the first Jamaican cyclist to sign with a team in Europe.

She won several awards as a triathlete, including the RJR Gleaner VMBS Youth Award, and represented the country in the event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Sharpe is one of 239 riders from around the world to sign with the developmental cycling team and the contract, which takes effect on January 1, 2022, will see her participating in training camps with world tour riders as of January 16.

“Well, I’m obviously elated, excited, overjoyed, all those adjectives and I’m definitely looking forward to what is to come next year and I do think this is a step in the right direction, not just for me but for local cycling and regional cycling. I believe we can look forward to bigger and better things as time progresses,” Sharpe said in an interview with Television Jamaica Sports.

The 21-year-old, who is presently reading for a Degree in Sports Science at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus, pointed to how her recent move will improve her cycling.

“I think this opportunity will provide me with the platform for greater exposure and greater developmental cycling experience. I’m definitely looking forward to what’s to come,” she said.

Sharpe will be based in Germany but will be traveling across Europe during her attachment and is expected to leave the island after the Christmas holidays.

The communities of Paradise and Norwood, in Montego Bay, experienced some Christmas cheer as the destinations for Jamaican sprinter Briana Williams’ 2nd annual Christmas Treat on Thursday.

300 children in the communities were gifted toys and food items from her sponsors Digicel and Grace Foods.

Transportation for the gifts was provided by KIG Jamaica.

The 19-year-old was a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning Women’s 4x100 team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, running a blistering first leg to help the team achieve a national record of 41.02.

Williams also won the sprint double at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland with times of 11.16 in the 100m and 22.50 in the 200m, her current personal best.

Her 100m personal best stands at 10.97 done in Florida in June this year.

Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited today signed a historic agreement establishing themselves, along with Trinidad’s Arima Racetrack, as the first two Caribbean Track and Pool Operators to participate in The Caribbean Pool. 

The Caribbean Pool is a Caribbean inter-island commingling platform that allows for Caribbean Tote operators to bet into each other, thereby creating bigger pools, bigger profits for its member partners, and most importantly, bigger payouts to its punters. 

The Pool will also facilitate greater cooperation and participation between the Caribbean Pool Operators with the aim of growing local racing both regionally and internationally.

 Chairman of SVL Gary Peart outlined what this agreement means for the company. 

“As we have been able to do for many of our other SVL brands, our goal for SVREL in 2022 is to continue our revenue growth through local, regional and international expansion. The Caribbean Pool aligns perfectly with our vision for the company and as such we are happy to participate as lead partner,” he said. 

With the two largest regional racetracks onboard and an expectation that the Barbados Turf Club will sign on as early as January 2022 and the Royal St Lucia Turf Club joining in as soon as they resume racing in 2022, the Caribbean Pool is set to delight Caribbean racing fans. 

Founder of The Caribbean Pool Kimani Robinson of the Kisero Group also reacted to the agreement.

 “Our vision was to create a new and exciting regional simulcast portal that would generate greater returns for the Caribbean track and pool operators as well as their punters,” Robinson added. 

Robinson, who noted that he first discussed the idea with SVL’s Chairman Peart where both men hammered out the constructs of the legal and technical structure required to make the platform a reality, added that regional merging is the future of horse racing in the Caribbean. 

“Regional commingling is the future of Caribbean horse racing. A regionally commingled platform will create greater relevance and awareness for the sport which means greater economic benefits for all. There is no reason why the Caribbean Pool shouldn’t replicate for horse racing what West Indies Cricket did for regional cricket,” he said. 

In terms of awareness, The Caribbean Pool has formed an alliance with the perfect regional media partners, the Caribbean's Home of Champions, SportsMax, who have agreed to become the home of all things Caribbean Pool and Caribbean Horse Racing.  

SportsMax CEO Nicolas Matthews confirmed that “racing fans will be in for a treat as SportsMax beefs up its Caribbean horse racing coverage via the Caribbean Pool. Given our regional strength, especially in the participating Caribbean Pool countries being contemplated and our ambition of providing our audiences with more of what they want, the Caribbean Pool is a perfect fit for us”. 

Along with coverage on their linear channels SportsMax and SportsMax2, SportsMax will include a dedicated channel within the SportsMax App called "SportsMax Racing" that will provide most of the Caribbean Pool’s racing content. 

“Our team has worked side by side with the Kisero Group for months in making the Caribbean Pool a reality,” commented SVREL CEO Lorna Gooden. 

“We are aggressively on a growth path for 2022 and though we have made significant headway in simulcasting our content internationally, we believe that regional growth for us will be faster and more responsive due to existing familiarity,” Gooden added, before expanding further on what the agreement demonstrates. 

“This agreement is a further demonstration of the commitment and drive of the Board and management at Caymanas Park to expand the product offering available to our punters, to promote and establish Caymanas Park as the horseracing mecca of the Caribbean,” she said. 

The Caribbean Pool is set to start in short order and is hoping to get all clearances and approvals granted for a soft launch over the Christmas holidays.

Tsenaye Lewis is a proud teen table tennis player after she picked up a couple of titles and two other podium finishes at the recent Carmel Barrau Open Tournament at the Broward Table Tennis Club (BTTC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Lewis was entered in seven categories in which she played 29 matches, winning 22 against 20 males and two female players ranked from 679-2477 by USA Table Tennis (USATT).

“This was a good opportunity to practice my skills and test my abilities against a variety of players – ranging from females my age to grown men. I think I represented myself well and learnt a lot,” she said afterwards.

That, she did.

She placed first in Under-1150 beating 954-rated Damian Casanova in three straight sets, 11-8,11-8,11-8 and first in Under-1350 silencing 1325-rated Jose Renator Goncalves 11-8,11-8,8-11,11-8.

She snagged third place in the Under-1800, losing to 1569-rated Angel Luis Nunez then another third place in the Under-1550, going down to the unusual navigations of 1495-rated Efrain Perez in the semi-finals.

 “I am very proud of her performance at the Broward Open as this was her first individual international victory,” said her coach Dale Parham of Skills Unlimited Table Tennis Academy (SUTTA).

“With more international exposure, the right support and training facilities, she has tremendous potential to go far.”

Coach Parham noted that her ability to make quick mental adjustments allowed her to compete against the male players was especially impressive.

Jamaica’s Men’s Champion Simon Tomlinson attended the tournament and was pleased with what he saw from the talented teen.

“Tsenaye played really high-quality matches against players equal to or above her level,” he said.

“I have had a chance to do some work with her along with Coach Dale Parham over the past few weeks and she has continued to show tremendous potential. I am excited to see what the future holds for her.”

Prior to her entry into the tournament, Lewis did not have a USATT rating, but this performance will get her on the USATT scale.

At the Jamaica Table Tennis Association’s (JTTA) National Table Tennis Tournament held in August 2021, Lewis was the U15 champion and the runner-up in the Women’s Open competition as well as the Under 21 category.

Olympic double sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has roped in another award on the back of her stellar 2021 season.

The 29-year-old sprinter was on Wednesday named the Track and Field News Female Athlete of the Year.

Thompson-Herah was voted the winner of the award by a 35-member international voting panel of the highly-respected track and field magazine, narrowly edging Venezuela's Olympic triple jump gold medalist and world-record holder, Yulimar Rojas.

The remainder of the top-five in voting included Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan, American 400m Hurdler Sydney McLaughlin and Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon.

During her history-making season, Thompson-Herah became the first woman to win the 100m, 200m sprint double at consecutive Olympics, winning the 100m in a time of 10.61, an Olympic record, and the 200m in 21.53 in Tokyo in July.

She would go even faster in the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in August, recording a 10.54-second clocking, the second-fastest time in history.

Thompson-Herah was also named World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year and the British Journal Athletics Weekly’s Female Athlete of the Year this month. She was also named NACAC Female Athlete of the Year and is favoured to be the RJR Sportswoman of the Year for 2021.