"Bravo" to junior athletes at CAC Championships

Visiting teams often struggle with Mexico’s altitude.

But when you add adverse weather in Morelia to the mix,  you get a picture of the trying conditions faced by Jamaican athletes to the Central American and Caribbean Championships. 

The athletes were pleased to return to the island’s warm sunshine on Monday. 

They had a 43 medal haul at the championships, 15 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze, one short of the 2012 tally. 

But head coach Michael McIntosh provided the context which he says must be used to judge the performances.

“I am satisfied with the fact that these kids have really, really performed out of their skin”, he said. “The conditions were not what we would have liked, but these kids really acquitted themselves well and continued the tradition of Jamaican trackand field.

It’s a busy summer for the nation’s juniors, as next up is the World Junior Championship in the United States.  

A 40 member team has been selected for those championships in Eugene, Oregon, scheduled to run from July 22 to 27.

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"Bravo" to junior athletes at CAC Championships

Jamaican athletes face the sword at latest Diamond League meet

Jamaican athletes found the going tough at the IAAF Diamond League meet in Lausanne with only two podium finishes.

National 100m champion Nickel Ashmeade was well beaten over 200 meters, posting 20.06 secs behind Panamanian 2009 world silver medallist Alonso Edward who produced a quick 19.84. Yohan Blake faded to sixth in a pedestrian 20.48 seconds, signallig he’s far from his best after returning this season from a hamstring injury.

Andrew Riley was a third place finisher in the 110 meter high hurdles. Fresh from winning his third national title, Riley produced a late surge to clock a season’s best 13.23 behind winner Pascal Martino Lagard of France who won in a personal best 13.07 seconds.  

Kemar Bailey-Cole could only manage 5th in the men’s 100 meters which was dominated by Americans. Justin Gatlin lowered his own world leading time to  9.80 with Tyson Gay, in his first race back from drug suspension clocking a fast 9.93 for second.

Michael Frater 10.44 was second in the “B” race won by Great Britain’s James Dasaolu in 10.03.

The performance of the night came in the men’s 400 meters, where olympic champion Kirani James produced a Grenadian record 43.74 secs to turn back American world champion Lashawn Merritt 43.92 into second.

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Jamaican athletes face the sword at latest Diamond League meet

Pre-trial dates set for Asafa, Sherone and 3 other athletes

PRE-TRIAL dates were yesterday set for five Jamaican athletes who were said to have returned adverse analytical findings at the National Senior and Junior Championships in June.

They include former 100-metre world record holder and Olympian Asafa Powell, and 2004 Olympic relay gold medallist Sherone Simpson.The others are national record holder in the men’s discus, Traves Smikle; discus thrower Allison Randall; and triple jumper Demar Robinson.The athletes, with the exception of Randall, who currently resides overseas, faced members of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) disciplinary panel, during a mentioning of the disciplinary hearing held yesterday at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, where the pre-trial dates were set.The date for Smikle, Randall, and Robinson, who are all represented by a team of attorneys led by Dr Lloyd Barnett, William Panton and Sabrina Cross, has been set for Friday, September 20 at 10:00 am at the Jamaica Conference Centre.Smikle will face a four-member pre-trial panel comprising former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Chairman of the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel Kent Pantry; Deputy DPP and Second Vice-Chairman Jeremy Taylor; physician Ivor Crandon; and Olympian Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn.Additionally, a four-member panel consisting of Pantry; Taylor; physician Dr Archie McDonald; and FIFA referee Peter Prendergast will head the pre-trial hearing for Robinson.Randall will sit before a four-member panel, which includes Pantry, Taylor, Dr McDonald and Cuthbert-Flynn.As regards Powell and Simpson, who are being represented by attorneys Kwame Gordon and Danielle Chai, a pre-trial hearing has been set for Friday, September 27 at 10:00 am at the Jamaica Conference Centre.A three-member panel, led by attorney-at-law and Vice-Chairman of the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel Lennox Gayle; physician Dr Jephthah Ford and Prendergast will preside over both Simpson and Powell’s pre-trial hearings.Both Powell and Simpson tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at the national trials in June. Powell has blamed his positive test on a range of new nutritional supplements prescribed to him by a physiotherapist.Pantry, who led the proceedings, informed that the matters concerning all five athletes would not be heard during the pre-trial hearings.“The pre-trial is really where certain orders will be made for documentation and other things and then a (disciplinary) hearing date will be agreed on (for each athlete) on that day,” he stated.Representing JADCO at yesterday’s mentioning were Chairman Dr Herbert Elliot, and attorney-at-law Lackston Robinson.Meanwhile, JADCO has informed that B samples for all five athletes have confirmed the prohibited substances, which were found in the A-sample analyses in June. The B samples were tested at a Montreal-based lab accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.Asafa Powell (left), along with Bruce James (centre), MVP president, and Sherone Simpson as they exited a room at the Jamaica Conference Centre yesterday, where pre-trial dates were set for them to answer to charges of doping violation. (PHOTO: BRYAN CUMMINGS)

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Pre-trial dates set for Asafa, Sherone and 3 other athletes

NACAC chief wants elite athletes to compete in region

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CMC) – The President of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Associations (NACAC), Victor Lopez wants to see more of the top athletes in the region compete in track and field meets within the confederation.

Lopez said the challenge for NACAC is to ensure that its best talents are available for the regional meets including Area Permit and IAAF World Challenge Meets.He said that many of the elite athletes have opted to compete in Europe where the appearance and performance fees are better.“One of my targets is to make sure that our top athletes compete in our meetings,” said Lopez who was elected in August to complete the four-year term of the late Neville ‘Teddy’ McCook.“We develop them, they get to that level where Usain (Bolt) is, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is and so forth and they might run in Jamaica because they might be obliged to be in the Jamaica Invitational but from there they just go Europe and we don’t see them or they go to New York or Eugene (Oregon) because those are Diamond Leagues and the appearance fees are better.”Lopez, who also heads the Association of Pan-American Athletics (APA), said the Caribbean circuit is increasing with Challenge Meets in Ponce (Puerto Rico) and Kinston (Jamaica) and Area Permit Meets in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.“We’ve been discussing the difficulty of our athletes getting lanes and performance fees in Europe. Most of the money goes to big athletes,” he said.In addressing this difficulty, Lopez said that NACAC would be increasing the level of one-day meetings in the Caribbean. “Hopefully we are able to have our meetings between April and May and then we leave June for National Championships, in July our major championships (CAC & NACAC) and then the athletes could go to Europe.”Lopez said that the Council and Congress of NACAC have approved a NACAC Senior Championships, tentative to start in 2015. He said such a championship will be an incentive for regional athletes since the area champion could advance with an A standard to the World Championships.“We’re going to start that in 2015 and there are already three sites interested in hosting the first version of that – USA, Dominican Republic and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico,” he said.“So hopefully we could get that championships become very popular with our top athletes and we hope to have a good marketing programme with that championship.”Lopez said that the future of track and field in the region looks encouraging and could be financially rewarding to athletes with interests from major sponsors including ESPN, Scotiabank, Gatorade, and Mondo.“We already have five or six sponsors coming on board and they are interested in CARIFTA Games but we would like to have them on CAC and NACAC Seniors. I believe in the past the effort was not strong so I will be strong on that we’ve been the athletes and the product,” he said.Lopez was elected president at the NACAC Congress in Moscow last month to serve out the term left vacant by the veteran Jamaican administrator McCook who died in February.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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NACAC chief wants elite athletes to compete in region

Elite J"can athletes face possible expulsion over drugs-testing setbacks

Sport

Friday, August 23, 2013

MONTREAL, Canada (CMC) — The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has threatened to expel Jamaica from the next Olympics and other major competitions if it refuses to address shortcomings highlighted by a senior ex-employee.WADA director general David Howman Wednesday night urged the Portia Simpson Miller government to investigate claims by the former executive director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission that its drugs-testing programme was inadequate.“Our normal approach if we have issues falling into the category of either complaint or concern is to try to work with the particular signatory — in this case the NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) — and remedy it,” Howman said.“If nothing happens, we can ask our board to declare any of the signatories non-compliant and that has implications as to whether teams from the country would be admitted into various events”.Renee Anne Shirley had accused Jamaica’s politicians and administrators of ignoring her warnings that the positive tests returned by Asafa Powell and four other athletes were a “disaster” waiting to happen, saying: “They believe Jamaica does not have a problem.”Howman warned that if the country refused to take its responsibilities seriously, WADA could deem JADCO non-compliant with the WADA code, which could have dire consequences for the country’s elite athletes, including world record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt.“We report the non-compliance to people who can then consider whether other sanctions ought to follow,” said Howman.“That would be the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) and so on.”Top Jamaican athletes like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (pictured) and Usain Bolt could be affected if Jamaica does not bring its anti-doping profile up to WADA’s satisfaction.

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Elite J"can athletes face possible expulsion over drugs-testing setbacks

"Don"t even trust yourself," Blake advises athletes

Sport

Paul ReidSunday, August 18, 2013

MOSCOW, Russia — With a number of high-profile athletes testing positive for banned substances in their system, former 2011 IAAF 100m world champion Yohan Blake is leaving nothing to chance and won’t trust anyone, not even himself.Blake, who was forced to watch from afar as training partner and compatriot Usain Bolt won the men’s 100m gold at the 14th IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki Stadium here a week ago, while rehabbing his injured right leg, said he is not willing to take any chances.He was addressing a press conference with journalists from several countries at a Moscow hotel on Friday, and while refusing to be drawn into the discussion on the failed drug tests by fellow Jamaicans Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, he said athletes “have to be really careful and know the people who are around you”.Blake’s advice to athletes was not to even trust themselves. “You can’t trust anyone, not even yourself; when in doubt make sure everything you take is being tested (at a laboratory).”Powell and Simpson were among five Jamaican athletes who tested positive at the recent JAAA National Trials and are awaiting a hearing after their ‘B’ samples confirmed the positive results from the ‘A’ samples.Discus throwers Traves Smikle and Allison Randall, as well as a junior athlete also tested positive.Jamaica’s Yohan Blake as he watches action inside the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow yesterday. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)

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"Don"t even trust yourself," Blake advises athletes

17 Indian athletes tossed from Asian Youth Games

Sport

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s bungling sports officials were left red-faced yesterday after 17 track and field athletes were thrown out of the Asian Youth Games underway in Nanjing, China, for being over-age.The athletes, who were part of a 27-member track and field squad, were barred from taking part in the Games because they were above the stipulated age of 17, an official said.“It should not have happened. We are trying to find out the reason,” the Indian Olympic Association’s interim chief Vijay Kumar Malhotra told reporters in New Delhi.Two days ago, four Indian badminton players were prevented from competing in Nanjing because organisers said their names had not been entered for the competition by officials back home.India has been suspended from the Olympic movement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since December last year for electing corruption-tainted officials to its local association.The country’s young sports stars are taking part in the Nanjing Games as “independent” Olympic athletes under the IOC flag.They were selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and approved by the state-run Sports Authority of India (SAI).Athletics officials would not comment on the over-age problems, but SAI chief Jiji Thomson blamed the AFI for the mix-up.“When a federation gives us a list, we never question it,” Thomson told the Times of India. “It’s entirely the responsibility of the federation to pick a team and ensure everything is in order.”

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17 Indian athletes tossed from Asian Youth Games

Report: West Germany systematically doped athletes

BERLIN, Germany (AP) — Researchers at Berlin’s Humboldt University claim West Germany’s athletes were systematically doped with government backing from the 1970s at the latest.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper publicised details from the unpublished 800-page report titled “Doping in Germany from 1950 to today” yesterday, revealing the extent to which West German politicians were allegedly willing to promote drug use among athletes to ensure international success.One interior minister is alleged to have said at the time, “Our athletes should have the same conditions and services as the Eastern bloc athletes.”The report claims that for decades the state financed experiments with performance-enhancing substances such as anabolic steroids, testosterone, estrogen or the blood-doping agent EPO.It also states that an unspecified number of footballers in the 1954 World Cup-winning team received injections of the methamphetamine Pervitin, commonly known today as speed, according to the newspaper.Publication of the report, which was completed in April, has been delayed due to privacy concerns and legal issues because athletes, doctors and politicians are named.The authors say West German doping did not evolve as a response to East Germany’s systematic doping under the Communist government, but rather that it operated parallel to it.The conditions for “systemic doping” were laid in 1970 when the Federal Institute of Sport Science (BISp) was founded under jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry, which is still responsible for sports.The BISp provided funding for research into doping substances for years, with sports medicine facilities in Freiburg, Cologne and Saarbruecken among the main recipients, the report says.“There’s a systemic connection between research and forbidden substances and in using them for athletes,” project leader Giselher Spitzer of Humboldt University told The Associated Press in a telephone interview last year. “That’s why we call it systemic doping.”Doping existed in Germany long before the establishment of the BISp.Amphetamines were used by German soldiers during World War II and their continued use in German football from the end of the 1940s became “normal”, according to the study.The historians uncovered a letter dated November 29, 1966, in which the FIFA medical committee chairman Mihailo Andrejevic wrote of “very fine traces” of the banned stimulant ephedrine found in three unnamed German players at the 1966 World Cup.England beat West Germany 4-2 in the final, with Geoff Hurst scoring England’s disputed third goal.Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports that the study alleges that Borussia Dortmund coach Max Merkel instructed his players to take the methamphetamine Pervitin in 1961. Dortmund lost the German championship final to Nuremberg that year. Merkel died in 2006.The report states that minors were also doped. Women and children were not supposed to be given anabolic steroids due to uncertainty over the long-term effects, but researchers say the advice made little difference.Doctor Joseph Keul of Freiburg allegedly tested the effects of anabolic steroids on boys as young as 11. Keul died in 2000.Sueddeutsche Zeitung also said that German athletes received around 1,200 injections of Berolase and thioctacid at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. They weren’t banned at the time and were supposed to improve performance, but their effects had been untested.It became known as the Kolbe syringe after rower Peter-Michael Kolbe, who looked to be heading for gold only to slump toward the end of his race with Pertti Karppinen to allow the Finn to overtake.The study was commissioned by the BISp on behalf of the German Olympic Sports Confederation in 2008.The Interior Ministry said in an email response that the data protection concerns delaying its publication had been addressed “so that in this respect there is no longer anything standing in the way of publication”.It did not say when the study might be published, however.The ministry stressed that it has a “great interest in completely clearing up and evaluating the doping past in both parts of Germany”.German Athletics president Clemens Prokop called for names to be revealed, “especially of those who are still involved in sport”.

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Report: West Germany systematically doped athletes

9 Turkish athletes banned for anabolic steroid use

MONACO (AP) — Nine Turkish track and field athletes have been banned after testing positive for anabolic steroids, the latest doping scandal there during Istanbul’s campaign to win 2020 Olympics hosting rights.

The IAAF said yesterday all had received two-year bans and that six are women, including two teenagers.Six cases involved field athletes testing positive for stanozolol at Turkey’s national university championships held in May at Bursa. Stanozolol is the steroid used by Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.Among those six, three athletes also tested positive for oral turinabol, the steroid used in state-sponsored East German doping programmes in the 1970s and 1980s.The IAAF confirmed the disciplinary cases days after its president, Lamine Diack, suggested Turkish athletics officials “need to clean their house”.“They are bidding for the 2020 Olympics but every few days we have three or four athletes caught for doping,” Diack said in London. He is a member of the International Olympic Committee which on September 7 will choose Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo as 2020 host.In June, eight Turkish athletes, including 2004 Olympic hammer silver medallist Esref Apak, were caught doping, and dozens more were reported to have tested positive before the Mediterranean Games hosted by Turkey.In May, the IAAF asked the Turkish federation to prosecute cases against Olympic 1,500-metre champion Asli Cakir Alptekin and two-time European 100-metre hurdles champion Nevin Yanit over alleged doping violations.Responding to Diack, the Turkish National Olympic Committee said the series of cases “is not evidence of more cheats”.“It is evidence that we are stepping up to fight this problem more aggressively and coming into line with top-tier sports nations,” the Turkish Olympic body said in a statement.In the latest verdicts, the IAAF said 17-year-old discus thrower Burcu Akmazoglu tested positive for both banned steroids in Bursa. She is suspended from competing through June 13, 2015.A second teenager, 18-year-old hammer thrower Elif Akbas, also tested positive for stanozolol at the student event.An IAAF list of sanctioned athletes shows that stanozolol and oral turinabol were both found in samples taken at Bursa from Kubra Danis, a 22-year-old shot putter, and Gokce Celenk, a 25-year-old discus thrower. Javelin throwers Sarik Bilgin, who is 25, and 21-year-old Gulsum Ozdemir Gunes also tested positive for stanozolol.The IAAF said the other cases involve two field athletes and one runner.Ali Ekber Kayas, a 26-year-old 400-metre runner who competed at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, gave a sample with oxandrolone at a national competition in May 2012. He is suspended through July 2, 2014.Shot-putter Nilgun Ozturk tested positive for methandienone at the same competition, and received the same ban as Kayas.The IAAF said 21-year-old javelin thrower Berkay Tolun tested positive for stanozolol during training in May. His ban expires on June 6, 2015.The Turkish Olympic body acknowledged that more doping cases could follow.“In the short term, the redoubling of (the Turkish anti-doping agency) testing and sanctioning procedures will mean more positive tests,” it said. “We want clean young Turkish athletes winning medals on home soil in 2020.”

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9 Turkish athletes banned for anabolic steroid use

MVP athletes for JAAA camp

Sport

Paul ReidWednesday, July 24, 2013

MONTEGO BAY, St James — All MVP Track and Field Club athletes selected to represent Jamaica at next month’s IAAF World Championships will be attending the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association’s (JAAA) optional pre-championships camp to be held in Moscow, a week before the start of the championships on August 10, club president Bruce James told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.The MVP president acknowledged that MVP had received communication regarding the camp. “We are making plans to be there,” he said, adding that all things considered, “some of our athletes might still be competing then, but they would join the camp at a later date”.The JAAA camp is set for August 2-8, but the site of the camp has not been announced, and according to executive member Trevor ‘TC’ Campbell, the team will be staying in the same hotel they are slated to be housed during the Championships.James said yesterday that despite the camp “being clearly optional, we have to think of what’s best for the athletes,” and said their decision “is nothing different from previous years”, when the JAAA had camps.The letter from the JAAA, he said, also stated the dates of the relay practices and said by then all their athletes should have been in the camp.

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MVP athletes for JAAA camp

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MVP athletes for JAAA camp

Athletes split over doping scandals

MONACO (AP) — Carmelita Jeter of the United States and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica walked out of a news conference yesterday after the sprinters were asked about the atmosphere in their teams following recent failed doping tests for Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell.

Jeter and Fraser-Pryce had requested not to be quizzed about doping, ahead of today’s Herculis meeting in Monaco.When they were, following a couple of benign questions, the pair responded by abruptly getting up and leaving.Gay won the 100 and 200 metres in the US trials last month. But the 2007 triple world champion pulled out of the Herculis meet and of the World Championships in Moscow after being notified of a positive doping test by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) earlier this month.Powell, the former 100-metre record holder, and Sherone Simpson, a three-time Olympic medallist, tested positive for the stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican championships last month. Olympic champion Veronica Campbell Brown tested positive for a banned diuretic in May.However, Australian hurdler Sally Pearson, American high jumper Brigetta Barrett and sprinter Justin Gatlin did not shy away from discussing the issue of doping yesterday.“You have to make sure that you’re responsible for what’s going into your body and who’s around you,” said Gatlin, a former Olympic and world champion who was suspended for four years after testing positive for a banned substance in 2006.“It’s just life. That’s one thing I learnt when everything happened with me,” Gatlin said. “You got to deal with it. You got to move forward. The one thing I learnt about track and field is: It’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do.”Gay will turn 31 in August. If his ‘B’ sample also proves positive, he could face a two-year ban and would struggle to be competitive again.“Getting back in shape was really the toughest part,” Gatlin recalled. “I came back like 20 pounds overweight.”Barrett, who won the US trials with a personal best of 2.04 and is the Olympic runner-up, clearly hadn’t expected the string of doping test announcements in recent weeks.“You’re always shocked by the news when your ‘heroes’ have fallen,” Barrett said. “It does feel like a shock because I didn’t expect those people to have a positive test.“As far as Tyson Gay is concerned, my heart and my prayers go out to him and anybody else having to deal with the consequences of a positive test result,” added Barrett. “And I can only pray that they could deal with it with grace and that other people can treat them accordingly.”Pearson regretted that doping has returned to plague the sport’s image, but highlighted the work of anti-doping authorities around the world.“It’s disappointing that these things happen,” she said. “But at the same time, I guess it’s good that whatever doping agency is doing it is keeping on top of the athletes.“It’s a shame that you have to talk about it. It’s a shame that you have to comment on it and have a feeling and an opinion about what’s happened, because it’s hard. We know these athletes personally as well. It can be difficult.”As for the meet, though, there should be plenty of action on the night.Gatlin will face the new generation of Jamaican sprinters with Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nickel Ashmeade, who respectively finished second and third behind Usain Bolt at their national trials in Kingston.European champion Christophe Lemaitre of France pulled out of the meet to focus on training, while Bolt skipped the Diamond League event.Gatlin edged Bolt by 0.01 second in Rome last month to be the only sprinter who has beaten the six-time Olympic champion this season.“I feel like I’m number one, that’s my thought,” Gatlin said with a grin. “My mum thinks I’m the number one.”Gatlin will be Bolt’s main rival in the 100 at the Moscow worlds, which start on August 10.In the men’s triple jump, Olympic and world champion Christian Taylor competes against Pedro Picardo of Cuba. Picardo is only 20 but he’s the 2012 junior world champion and leaped a world-leading 17.69 in Havana last month.Barrett will be up against two veterans, Olympic champion Anna Chicherova of Russia and two-time world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia in Monaco.In the women’s 100 hurdles, Olympic and world champion Pearson will compete against Kellie Wells of the United States, who finished third last year in London. Brianna Rollins, who set a world-leading time of 12.26 at the US trials, and heptathlon Olympic champion Jessica Ennis of Britain both pulled out.The Herculis meeting is the 10th leg of the Diamond League.

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Athletes split over doping scandals

China Harbour continues to support Jamaican athletes

JAMAICA’S Paralympians were given a further financial boost towards participating at the IPC Athletics World Championships in France, as China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) pumped in $500,000 towards their expenses.

With the games set to run from July 20-29, the total sponsorship package to date is $4.4m following Digicel’s $2.4m, and Supreme Ventures’ $1.9m . The opening ceremony was held Friday in Lyon.Jennifer Armond, CHEC’s communications manager, told the Jamaica Observer that her organisation is continuing its support for Jamaican athletes.“China Harbour has projects in 80 countries around the world and they always try to find ways where they can blend in with the culture of each country they enter, and being an engineering and construction company, mostly male-oriented, sports tends to be a definitive way to do so. Then, of course, Jamaica being a “Track Star” country, makes it an added attraction in the decision-making process,” said Armond.“CHEC’s sponsorship of sporting activities started in 2011 with a $300,000 donation to the Christina High School daCosta Cup football team for their purchase of gear and other items needed to compete.“This school was located adjacent to our Christiana Development Road JDIP project, so we granted their request as part of our corporate social responsibility policy that is integral to CHEC’s company culture of assisting worthwhile causes as for community development,” she noted.“China Harbour then caught the Olympic fever in August 2012 and handed over US$20,000 to the Jamaica Olympic Association in support of the Jamaican athletes in their 2012 London Olympics Games competition. Soon after their victorious return, CHEC spent an additional $2m towards a celebratory concert at the National Arena in October 2012, to honour the athletes, coaching staff and officials to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Armond added.She noted that these donations sparked the interest of other sporting bodies and requests started arriving in their numbers.“A decision was made by our regional general manager, Zhongdong Tang, that China Harbour Engineering Company should support the sport of football through the local Premier League Clubs Association, and they did by donating a whopping $22 million. He felt that as a main contractor for projects all across the country, the boost in football would be a formidable way to reach to the hearts and pockets of the young men that live in the communities who enjoy playing and watching the sport. The donation was used to help maintain the welfare of the football clubs across Jamaica.“The $30,000 ‘Starballer of the Month’ prize was an added incentive to encourage the players, on an individual level, to perform at their best so that in the short term they could win an immediate cash reward and in the longer term add an accolade to their resume, which worked out well for the April 2013 Starballer, Jermie Lynch, who was signed on for a six-month loan contract at Club Deportivo Luis Ángel Firpo in El Salvador,” she added.“At the moment we are reviewing our past experience in sponsoring the 2012-2013 PCLA competition before we make a decision on the coming season, but meanwhile we have continued our interest in track and field events.“As CHEC’s investments and interest deepen in Jamaica and the region, so will their support for cultural exchange; the company’s approach of inclusion and collaboration will prove itself in the days ahead,” said Armond.Jamaica will be represented by seven athletes of which the Championships are expected to draw nearly 2,000 athletes from 118 countries.The team will be captained by Tanto Campbell, who will participate in the F54/56 discus throw. The 2012 Olympic champion Alphanso Cunningham will be looking to continue his rich vein of form at Championships in the F52/53 javelin and discus events. Sylvia Grant is the only woman and will be in the F57/58 javelin and discus. The team is completed by Shane Hudson (T46 200m and 400m); Davis Bascoe (T46 200m and 400m); Romadeo Williams (T46 200m and 400m); and Isaiah Simms (T13 100m and 200m).Neville Sinclair will be the coach with Suzanne Harris-Henry the chef de mission, among the five officials with the team. Jennifer Armond (left), CHEC’s communications manager, handing over the symbolic cheque to Randy Jones (second right), director of the Jamaica Paralympics Association, and Christopher Samuda (right), president, JPA. Also sharing in the moment is Xiao Yanming, general affairs manager, CHEC.

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China Harbour continues to support Jamaican athletes

Window narrows for athletes seeking ‘B’ standards

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Time could be running out on a number of Jamaican athletes seeking to achieve at least the ‘B’ qualifying standards to the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, set for August 10-18.

With three weeks to go to the July 29 deadline for athletes to achieve the standards to be selected by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) for the championships, several athletes are still short of the ‘B’ standards required.According to the qualification rules set out by the IAAF, each event has an automatic of ‘A’ qualifying standard and a ‘B’ qualifying standard.Each federation is allowed to enter a maximum of four athletes in most events, except the marathon, either all with the ‘A’ standard or up to three ‘A’ standards and a ‘B’. A maximum of three will be allowed to participate plus a fourth if that athlete has a bye through being the defending champion or the IAAF Diamond League champion from the previous season.In the case where no athlete has achieved the ‘A’ standard, the federation is allowed to enter two athletes with the ‘B’ standard, but only one will be eligible to compete.The standards must be achieved between October 1, 2012 and July 29 this year for it to be accepted by the IAAF, the rule also states.National senior discus throw champions Chad Wright and Allison Randall, both of whom won their events at last week’s XXIV Central American and Caribbean track and field championships in Mexico, as well as triple jumper Wilbert Walker are still short of the mark, as well as former World Youth discus throw bronze medallist Traves Smikle. Triple jumpers Shanieka Thomas and Trecia Smith are also among those hoping to make the standards in the time left.Shot putter O’Dayne Richards threw a personal best 20.97m to win the gold at CAC on Sunday, well past the ‘A’ standard 20.60m to secure his place, and Raymond Brown, who has personal best 20.13m, just over the 20.10m ‘B’ standard.Wright is mere centimetres from the ‘B’ mark of 64.00m after throwing 63.74m earlier this year. He won with 62.35m at the JAAA/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships, but had just 60.79m in Mexico.Jason Morgan has already achieved the ‘B’ standard after a season-best 65.94m, and has thrown over 64.00m many times this season, but did not compete at the Championships due to an emergency. He has since written to the JAAA explaining why he was not able to make it, but was left out of the CAC team.Smikle, the national record holder who also competed in London last year, has had injury setbacks this season and has a season best 63.48m set in April.Randall, who competed at the Olympic Games in London last year, is also within touching distance after throwing 58.97m to retain her title at the Championships, just outside the 59.50m ‘B’ mark.Like Smikle, Thomas will be hoping for a second visit to Russia this year and has a season best 14.15m just behind Smith’s 14.18, as both seek the ‘B’ mark of 14.20m, and the ‘A’ mark of 14.40m to join Kimberly Williams, who already has the ‘A’ mark.Thomas is into Thursday’s final of the triple jump at the WUG after jumping 13.48m in the preliminaries.Walker won the men’s triple jump at the Senior Championships with a windaided 16.40m and must make it to 16.48m to have a chance for selection.

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Window narrows for athletes seeking ‘B’ standards