Jamaica’s star Veronica Campbell-Brown’s return to indoor competition ended in defeat as the sprinter was beaten into second place in the women’s 60m dash.Campbell-Brown, who switched coach last year, finished second to American Lisa Barber in a very tight finish which saw both runners being credited with the same time of 7.24seconds.

American Olympian Muna Lee finished third in 7.25secs, with Bianca Knight taking fourth in 7.32.
The men’s race went to Ivory Williams in 6.59secs. Michael Rodgers was second 6.60, while Antigua’s Daniel Bailey (6.63) was fourth after a poor start.
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep continued her dominance over the hurdles at the meeting. The Canadian clocked 8.01secpmd to beat Americans Tiffany Ofili (8.04) and Virginia Powell (8.07) in the women’s 60m hurdles.
Terrence Trammell won the men’s race in 7.49secs and he defeated Ryan Brathwaite, the Barbadian World champion 7.61.

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The 26-year-old Edwards is strongly-built, has a bustling approach to the wicket and delivers with a high, powerful action.

He spent some seasons learning his trade on the league circuit in England and he has been on the fringe of the Barbados senior team for several years.

Edwards earned selection as a replacement for Kemar Roach, who leaves the region today for West Indies duties in the limited-overs series in Australia.

Edwards is expected to share the new ball with experienced left-arm pacer Pedro Collins.

The other changes in the 13-man squad see batsman Kyle Hope coming back to replace all-rounder Dwayne Smith, who is also in the Windies team to Australia.

Barbados are second in the standings on 21 points from three matches – 12 for their win over Combined Campuses and Colleges, six for first innings lead in the draw against Trinidad and Tobago, and three for the loss of first innings lead in the draw against the Leeward Islands.

Play in that WICB First-class match will start at 1:00 pm and it will be the second match this season using the pink ball, after the Trinidad and Tobago/Guyana second-round match in Antigua.

BARBADOS SQUAD – Ryan Hinds (captain), Dale Richards, Jason Haynes, Kirk Edwards, Kyle Hope, Shamarh Brooks, Rashidi Boucher, Kevin Stoute, Patrick Browne, Corey Edwards, Pedro Collins, Tino Best and  Nikolai Charles.

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Frost having a great tournament taking out two ranked juniors Seanon Williams in the first round and Devard Wharton in the quarterfinals, then going on to beat Davis Cup competitor Ryan Moseley in the semis, found the going much tougher against the all round game and athleticism of King. The match produced some high level tennis with long rallies and King had to concentrate to overcome the experience of Frost but Frost’s usual serve and volley game was no match for King’s decisive passing shots.

In ladies doubles Sherry Belle continued her winning form teaming up
with daughter Kareike Wharton to win the semis against Rosie Roach and junior Cherese Slocombe winning the match 6-2, 6-2. She is also in the final of the ladies 35’s singles against Rosie Roach and will play Gabriella Lopez in the open final.

Dr Raymond Forde and partner Julian Baird had their second consecutive win over junior doubles pairs emerging victorious over Jackson Kerr and Mykell Reifer. In the first round they took out Yannick Hooper and Devard Wharton by the same score. They now meet the #1 seeds Darian and Christopher King in the semi-finals.

The ‘Courtesy Garage Top 8’ also served off as the top 8 players for the year are invited to play off for the title. This year’s invitees match up with Darian King versus Hassani Stewart, Mykell Reifer will play Seanon Williams, Ryan Mosley has an encounter with Devard Wharton and the last match will be between Bernard Frost and Duncan Evanson.

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It took three attempts for the athletes to settle down for the start, because they seemed to feel it was not quiet enough in the arena. But then they went off at the first attempt. Dexter Faulk was quickest out of the blocks in lane 3, but Ryan Braithwaite running in lane 5 closed the small gap very soon. For about two thirds of the race the two were joint leaders but then the World Champion moved away with splendid technique. He only had a slight contact at one hurdle on his way to victory and to the $ 30,000 prize. All the others he took excellent. That made the difference.

“All eyes were on me,” said World Champion Braithwaite and added: “Surely with Liu, Robles and Oliver in the race I could have run faster.” The 21 year-old is convinced that he can do much better. “I ran 13.16 only giving 80 percent of what I am capable of. Next year I feel I can run sub 13 seconds.”

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At 21 years of age, Brathwaite became the youngest ever champion in the history of the event at the IAAF World Championships and the first ever athlete from Barbados to not only win a medal but a gold medal in this competition.

Yet it took the Bridgetown-born more than five minutes to realize that he had achieved his ultimate goal. The announcer called his name once, twice, three times, but Brathwaite wasn’t sure yet. He waited until his name eventually appeared on the screen board to celebrate.

It came as no surprise that he should be cautious as only one hundredth of a second separated first from third. His 13.14 national record had the better over the US pair of Terrence Trammell who added yet another silver to his resume and David Payne who defended his bronze medal from Osaka, both credited with 13.15.

“My brain was blank,” he confessed about the seconds following his race. “I was so happy, shocked. I could say nothing, I was in a whole different world.”

True to his young age Brathwaite candidly admits that he “glanced to the right and glanced to the left and saw it was real close. I just told myself, ‘man I hope I don’t end with silver or bronze…I was praying for the gold medal.”

Brathwaite has been a promising up and coming athlete winning silver at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships. Two years on and still a Junior he competed at the Osaka World Championships where he advanced to the semi-finals. He also made the semis at the Beijing Olympic Games where he broke the national senior record with his 13.38 performance in the heats.

That was eight months after he moved from his native Barbados to Great Bend, Kansas, USA to attend the Barton County Community College. But it wasn’t until the fall of 2008 that he met the man who he believes deserves the credit for having turned him into a gold medal winner.

“I train with Matt Kane in a small town called Great Bend in Kansas. We have great training facilities and the place is small. It’s good, there’s nothing around it so it’s good I can focus on track and field,” he laughs.

“I have a lot of thanks to give to my coach. There is no other coach better than him. We have worked hard on my strength and my technique. Coach told me I could win. He believed in me. He just said ‘please get over the last hurdle.’ And that’s what I did.”

“I am so proud now. I would like to thank everyone who helped me get here and everyone who came to watch and supported me. It was a great crowd.”

Coach Kane was just as proud a man as his young champion. “It’s unbelievable. You know the hurdles is the sort of event where you can easily come first or you can easily come last.

“I started working with Ryan in the fall; he has matured a lot since I took him on. We worked on strength and technique and did a lot of drills work. The hurdles is an “old” race so for him to win at 21 is unbelievable. I believe there is still a lot more for him to come.”

Kane admitted that Brathwaite’s winning race tonight was probably the worst race he’s seen him run.

“Usually I would rate his technique 9 out of 10 but tonight, honestly… I would give him a 5 or a 6. It was probably his worst race but he made it look good.”

So what made the difference?

“Just a lot of want to,” the coach has no doubt. “He is extremely strong. If he had run the first 30 metres differently tonight he would certainly have gone close to 13 flat and it wouldn’t have been that close a finish.

“Just before the final we spoke a lot, we went over the things that he already knew. I told him it’s a rhythm race and his rhythm is better than anyone else’s. I explained to him that life after the final would be the same as before the final so just stay relax and run over the last hurdle.”

Brathwaite has had an incredible season coming into these Championships lowering his own national record three times. In the Olympic stadium here in Berlin he convincingly won his heat yesterday and then his semi final in what was his fourth Barbados record of the season at 13.18 only to lower it by a further 4 hundredths a couple of hours later.

Former World record holder Colin Jackson had predicted he would be among the top three a week ago and a potential candidate to gold.

His breakthrough at the highest level was also expected by the man who had the best result for his country before him, namely 2000 Olympic bronze medallist Obadele Thompson whose best showing at World Champs was a fourth place.

Thomspon said:  “It was only a matter of the right timing and circumstances before he revealed his true abilities and competitiveness.

“I am not surprised that he won. Over the past few weeks, I have been texting and emailing him about being World Champion. Up to last night I emailed and told him to ‘take no prisoners’. He is a tremendous talent and competitor – as shown in him pulling out a tough victory against seasoned competitors.

“I believe that when he matures and improves his technique he could threaten the World record.  I hope that he has a long career filled with many more titles and records. I only wish I was in Berlin to sing the Barbados National Anthem with him.”

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Ryan Braithwaite continued to prove Caribbean form by winning a nail bighter of a finish in the 110M Hurdles at the World Championships.  One one hundredth of a second was the difference between first and second as Braithwaite set a new National Record to sit atop the podium ahead of the Americans Payne and Tremell. The Caribbean was also represented by Maurice Wignall and Dwight Thomas in the final. The end result was as follows:

1     Ryan Brathwaite     BAR     13.14     (NR)     0.157
2     Terrence Trammell     USA     13.15         0.141
3     David Payne     USA     13.15         0.122
4     William Sharman     GBR     13.30     (PB)     0.125
5     Maurice Wignall     JAM     13.31     (SB)     0.151
6     Petr Svoboda     CZE     13.38         0.144
7     Dwight Thomas     JAM     13.56         0.145
8     Wei Ji     CHN     13.57         0.144

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Marques Clarke took 3-29 for Barbados who made 145-7 off 47.3 overs in reply despite 4-15 from 10 overs from left-arm spinner Antony Adams in a game marred by several poor Umpiring decisions against both teams.

Electing to bat in overcast conditions, Guyana lost Trevon Griffith (1) in the first over when he gloved a pull at Jason Holder for the Keeper to hold the low leg-side offering with just 2 runs on the board. Alex Amsterdam and Jeetendra Sookdeo took the score to 11 on another slow track and parched and rough outfield before Sookdeo (5) again played with little purpose and was caught behind trying to steer Clarke to 3rd man.

Jonathon Foo hit 2 fours in his 13 before he flicked a leg-side catch off Clarke to Mario Rampersaud to give the Bajan Keeper the 3rd of his five catches in the innings and leave Guyana on 33-3 in the 10th over.

Amsterdam (15) pushed forward to left-arm spinner Jomal Warrican and was caught behind at 45-4 while Vice-Captain Royston Alkins who took 14 balls to get off the mark, seemed very unfortunate to be given LBW to Warrican for 13 at 72-5 in the 25th over.

Skipper Anthony Bramble (7) tried to play a ball which turned away from him through the on-side off the back foot and only succeeded in edging a catch to the Keeper as Guyana catapulted to 88-6 even as the sun returned in all of its glory.

Hetmyer again looked solid and used his feet well to the spinners before another very poor Umpiring decision sent him LBW to Cummins for 28 from 54 balls at 105-7 in the 36th over as the Guyana struggles in this year’s competition continued.

Andre Stoll and Adams were quickly removed for ducks as Guyana slipped to 114-9 before fast bowlers Keon Joseph (24*) and Seon Daniels (10) added 27 for the last wicket before Daniels swept Chase to deep backward square to end the innings.

Chase finished with 3-21 while Warrican (2-24), Clarke (2-29) and Cummins (2-33) supported for Barbados who reached 5-0 off 4 overs by lunch.

After the interval, Kraigg Braithwaite, a member of the West Indies Test squad last month, and the left-handed Anthony Alleyne carried Barbados to 12 in scorching sun before Alleyne (4) and Raymond Reifer (0) fell in the space of a run.

Alleyne was brilliantly caught at point on the 2nd attempt by Alkins off Joseph while Reifer edged Daniels to the Keeper.

Adams removed Kyle Mayers (12) as Barbados, who struggled against controlled bowling, slipped to 38-3 in 16 overs.

Braithwaite, who could not get the ball off the square and was dropped by Griffith off Daniels on 9 at 14-2, edged a cut off Adams to the Keeper at 43-4 in the 22nd over.

The right-handed Braithwaite laboured for 82 minutes and 66 balls for his 21 and he was soon followed into the pavilion by Shane Dowrich (3) who swept the nagging Adams to deep backward square at 65-5.

Chase, who hit 4 fours in 28 from 58 balls, was then stumped off the final ball of Adam’s spell to leave the score on 73-6 in the 32nd over and Holder (29) fell to Griffith at 111-7,

Man-of-the-Match Cummins (34 not out from 44 balls with 4 fours) and Rampersaud saw their team home with 2.3 overs remaining.

Sookdeo’s part time spin was used ahead of Stoll who surprisingly only bowled one over and with 15 needed from 3 overs, 13 were taken from Sookdeo’s over as Barbados rushed to victory.

Guyana played an unchanged team from the one which beat the Windwards on Saturday and after a break today take on hosts Jamaica tomorrow at Melbourne in their next game. While Barbados face the Leewards tomorrow at Jamalco.

Manager Alvin Johnson informed that the players will not practice today but will use the free day to rest. He also said Herrell Greene will visit the doctor today for a groin injury while Alkins spent the latter part of the Barbados innings off the field.  Amsterdam, who again had an economical spell (10-2-17-0), was also off the field suffering from a slight back strain.

Scoreboard

Guyana Innings

T Griffith c Wkp Rampersaud b Holder    1
J Sookdeo c Wkp Rampersaud b Clarke     5
A Amsterdam cWkp Rampersaud             15
J Foo c Wkp Rampersaud b Clarke           13
R Alkins b Warrican                                  13
S Hetmyer lbw b Cummins                        28
A Bramble cWkp Rampersaud b Cummins 7
K Joseph not out                                         24
A Stoll lbw b Chase                                     0
A Adams c Braithwaite b Chase                  0
S Daniels c Mayers b Chase                       10
Extras (b-5, lb-7, w-13)                           25
Total (all out off 44.1 overs)         141

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EIGHT surfers have been selected by the Barbados Surfing Association (BSA) to compete at the Billabong ISA World Games slated to be held in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica from tomorrow to August 8.

The team, which left the island yesterday, comprises four (4) Open Men – Stefan Corbin, Simon Coles, Christopher Clarke and Jonathan Reece; two (2) Longboarders, Kenny Tuach and Kevin Jones; and one Open Lady – Chelsea Tuach. Officials accompanying the team are Peter Corbin (team manager and assistant coach), Margot Tuach (assistant manager), Nicholas Donawa (coach) and Elvis Carter (judge).

The best surfers from around the globe will be representing their countries in the event known as the “Olympics of Surfing” on the waves of Playa Hermosa in an Olympic-style competition, which brings together more than 200 of the best surfers from 35 different countries. It is set to be the biggest surfing championship ever held in Central America.
Barbados’ team members have all been training hard in the waters of South Point, Drill Hall and Soup Bowl, and all are seeking to achieve an excellent performance to honour their country through the sport of surfing.

Barbados has not competed in the World Surfing Games since 2006 and this experience will prove to be an invaluable one for the surfers participating and for the sport of surfing in Barbados. Last year’s competition, which took place in Costa de Caparica, Portugal, saw a turn out of more than 200 competitors from 28 countries. The number of surfers and skill level is expected to increase for this year’s competition, which is scheduled to correspond with Playa Hermosa’s peak surf season, with waves ranging anywhere from four to eight feet with perfect barrels. Weather forecasts for Playa Hermosa expect light, sporadic rain throughout the contest week, with an average water temperature of 75°F (24°C) and an atmospheric temperature varying between 73°F (23°C) and 91°F (33°C).

Playa Hermosa is a beach break located on the Pacific Coast and is considered to be one of the best places to surf in the world. The president of the Costa Rica Federation of Surf (FSC – the hosts of the event) Jose Ureña, told the press, “I am really happy for the opportunity that ISA and Billabong have given to us. To be the hosts of an event like this is like a dream come true, and to have so many countries enjoying our waves, it is something wonderful. It’s a unique occasion for us.”

The fact that Billabong is sponsoring this year’s event for the first time was also a big break for Costa Rica and the entire surfing world.

Brand representative Graham Stapelberg, promoted the decision to host the games in Costa Rica by saying, “I believe it is vital to provide a platform for these emerging surf regions. It is the only event of its kind where you get such a large representation of so many different surf nations.”
The team to beat this year is four-time ISA Surfing Games champion, Australia, who racked up Gold medals in the last three consecutive events. Only four countries have managed to win the Gold Medal in the General Team Ranking of the World Surfing Games since 1996: United States (1996), Brazil (2000), South Africa (2002), and Australia (1998, 2004, 2006 and 2008). The four powerhouses have already announced that they will be coming to Costa Rica in full force, intent on acquiring the Gold once again.

The BSA is very grateful to all its sponsors, especially the Barbados Olympic Association, the National Sports Council, Flyin’ Fish, Lavazza Coffee, L.E. Gibbs and Co Ltd, HIPAC Ltd, Carters, Redbull, Sprite, Mount Gay, Crane & Equipment and Williams Equipment, for helping to make it possible to send a team to this year’s event.

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Opener Andre Alayne hit 102 not out for the Bajans, who trailed by 124 runs on first innings.
At Sabina Park, Guyana defeated the Windward Islands by two wickets.
Set 263 for victory, Guyana reached their target for the loss of eight wickets.
Anthony Bramble made 78 and Seon Helmter 52 not out against John Fabien 4 for 43.
Earlier, the Windwards with a first innings lead of 74, and resuming on 163-7 were dismissed for 189.
So after three rounds, Trinidad and Tobago lead with 30 points.
They are followed by Jamaica and the Leewards 24, Barbados 20, Guyana 16 and the Windwards 4.

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The U.S. meets Costa Rica on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the final match of the third-round qualification event. The winner will receive direct entry into the FIVB World Championship being played in November 2010 in Japan. The second-place team will compete in the four-team NORCECA Playoff Round that will fill NORCECA’s final two World Championship vacancies.

“I thought our team improved on a few phases of the game tonight,” U.S. head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “We are excited to get back out on the court for tomorrow’s match with Costa Rica.”

Kristin Richards came off the U.S. bench in the second set and scored a match-high 11 points filling in for an injured Cynthia Barboza, who scored 10 points before leaving the match. Orlando-area product Angie Pressey added 11 additional points, while Tayyiba Haneef-Park chipped in seen points. Heather Bown, Christa Harmotto and Jane Collymore all racked up five points.

Nellie Spicer added two points and 18 assists, while Danielle Scott-Arruda added one point. Stacy Sykora led the defense with 19 digs.

Shari Matthews led Barbados with five points in the loss, while Julia Lewis and Thonya Joseph each tacked on three points.

Team USA grabbed an 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout of the opening set and extended the gap to 10-2 with two points out of the break. The U.S. held a 13-point advantage, 16-3, at the second technical timeout and cruised to the 25-6 set victory.

Barbados scored the first two points of the second set, only to have the U.S. answer with four unanswered points for a 4-2 lead. Barbados came back to retake a 6-5 lead and relinquished it to the U.S. at 8-7. The Americans gained breathing room as part of a 5-0 spurt at 11-7. Leading 15-10, the U.S. finished strong on a 10-1 run for a 25-11 victory.

Barbados came back from an 8-5 deficit in the third set to move within one at 10-9, but Richards sided out with a kill and started a 3-0 run to rebuild a four-point cushion at 13-9. Collymore sliced in three consecutive aces and served Team USA to the final nine straight points to push the American advantage to 25-12.

Team USA held a sizeable 43-12 kill advantage while adding a 10-0 margin in aces. The U.S. also out-blocked Barbados 4-2. The U.S. had a hitting efficiency of 63.24 percent for the match.

“I am happy with the win,” Scott-Arruda, the U.S. captain, said. “We were able to play a lot of people and they played well.”

“I enjoyed the competition tonight with the USA team,” Barbados Head Coach Andrew Brathwaite said. “We were able to stay with them for a little while, but we need to stay focused for a longer period. Tonight we were beaten by a great USA team. I am happy with the fight spirit displayed by our team.”

“Regardless of the score, we were able to stay together as a team tonight against a good team,” Barbados captain Janelle Chase-Mayers said.

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