Fernandes Wins Guyana Open Title
 

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, , CMC - Former World No.27 ranked Nicolette Fernandes made a triumphant return to tournament play with an efficient win over teenager Ashley Khalil to grab the women’s title at the Guyana National Open Squash Championships Saturday night.

Fernandes easily outgunned Khalil, the reigning Caribbean Under-15 champion, 9-5, 9-0, 9-1 to grab the title at the Georgetown Squash Club.

In the Men’s final, Kristian Jeffrey produced another master class performance to beat Robert Fernandes also in straight game 9-4, 9-1, 9-3 to claim his first senior title after a few close attempts.

Plagued by a knee injury that forced her off the professional circuit for the past 14 months, Fernandes proved too strong for a determined Khalil, who after providing a spirited challenge in the opening stanza could not keep up with the pace and power of a clearly resurgent Fernandes.

The Caribbean star showed no signs of discomfort throughout the tournament and is now a top contender for the St Lucia Open that starts on Monday in Castries.

Speaking after the final, Fernandes reckoned that the tournament was just her first step and each tournament from now will give her a better idea of how far off she from getting back to the level that saw her attaining a World top-30 ranking over a year ago.

“During the tournament I felt great, I experienced no problems with the knee honestly, it did not hurt throughout the competition,” said the 25-year-old Fernandes.

“However, all my other body parts are aching and that shows I am still not quite up to the level of fitness as yet,” added Fernandes, who had also advanced to the semi-finals of the Men’s Open.

Anxious to fast-track her revival on the international circuit, Fernandes was granted permission to compete in the men’s division as well and made it to the last four, when eventual champion Jeffrey defeated her 9-2, 9-1, 9-1 in Friday night’s semi-final.

In spite of the clear win by Jeffrey in the scoreline, that semi-final match-up was laced with some exhilarating rallies which left a fair-sized audience captivated.

Jeffrey, a losing finalist at last year’s championships where he lost to Julian Chin, said it was a relief to finally break the jinx and win the men’s title, having suffered a pulled hamstring in last year’s event when leading by two sets.

He had experienced a similar fate at the 2007 Caribbean Junior Championships where he had a two-set advantage over Jamaican Chris Binnie, before the injury severely hampered his movement and he eventually lost the match.  

Fernandes and Jeffrey leave last Monday to compete in St Lucia.
 

Windies Lethargy Surprises Ponting

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Australia captain Ricky Ponting is surprised by the lack of intensity West Indies showed in the third Digicel One-Day International at the Grenada National Stadium last Sunday.

Needing a win to keep alive their hopes in the series, West Indies lost by seven wickets after managing a modest 223 in 48 overs. It was their third successive defeat which assured Australia of a series win.

West Indies wasted a promising start of 86 in 17.4 overs and Australia romped to the target in 40.3 overs after a record second wicket partnership of 190 between Ponting and Shane Watson.

“I felt that when they got off to the start and we were able to drag them back, that was when the real energy was sucked out of the their team,” Ponting told reporters.

“Although they got an early wicket, when Shane and I were in there for three or four overs, there just wasn’t much intensity out there.“We played reasonably well out there, but there was a series on the line and we expected a bit more from the West Indians at that time.”

The victory for Australia followed wins by 84 runs and 63 runs in the first two matches and Ponting expressed satisfaction about the performance of his team.

Having taken an unbeatable 3-0 series lead, Ponting also wants to end on a high note after the disappointment of losing the last three ODIs on their 2003 tour when clinched the series by winning the first four matches.

“I’ve been pretty impressed. The second and third games were the two best performances. We didn’t get everything right from the start and West Indies had us on the back foot for the first 20 overs,” he said.

“The way we responded was terrific. I’m really satisfied the way we have gone.

The series has been played in the way we wanted.

“We have two matches to go. We’ve been here to the Caribbean before, being in this situation and lost the last couple of games. We want to focus on making sure we are right for Friday’s game.”

The final two matches of the series will be on Friday and Sunday at Warner Park in St Kitts.
 

Bolt wins, Campbell-Brown Stunned In 100m
 

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – World Champion Veronica Campbell-Brown shockingly missed out an automatic 100-metre Olympic spot while Usain Bolt defeated Asafa Powell in the clash of the world's fastest men at Jamaica's Olympic Trials on Saturday night.

A fourth place finish for Campbell-Brown means -- based on the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) rules that state the first two automatically qualify and the third place is discretionary – she could find herself out of the Beijing women's 100 metres.

Campbell-Brown has been one of the favourites to win 100-metre gold in Beijing.

Race winner Kerron Stewart, who produced a personal best and world-leading time of 10.80 seconds, the second best time ever by a Jamaican, defeated the outsider Shelly-Ann Fraser (10.85) and Sherone Simpson (10.87).

Campbell-Brown clocked a decent 10.88 that equaled her own 2008 world best time coming into the event, but it was not good enough for a top three spot in the fastest women’s 100-metre final in Jamaica National Championship history.

Stewart was thrilled about her success.

"I am feeling good," said Stewart, who hastened to add that she is aiming for Merlene Ottey's national record of 10.74 seconds.

"Second is good, but I am going for the number one spot," she added when asked how she felt about becoming the second fastest Jamaican woman ever, while moving ahead of Simpson (10.82), Juliet Cuthbert (10.83) and Campbell-Brown (10.85).

"My aim was to first make the team, it wasn't about the time, but I ended up winning … and the time, I cannot be sad about that," Stewart said with a smile.

Meanwhile, the fierce battle many fans anticipated between the world’s fastest men, Bolt and Powell, did not materialize as both sprinters ran very conservatively in the final.

The pair produced fast starts but cruised the second half of the race when they took control.

Bolt looked awesome as he eased to a winning time of 9.85 seconds, and Powell coasted in for second at 9.97 seconds.

"We got out because we had to run the first part of the race and this was the interesting part of it, but the aim was just to qualify," said Bolt after his win.

"I think that Asafa (Powell) stopped running from about 80 metres out," he said of his rival.

Powell, who glanced across at Bolt during the race, said he achieved his aim.

"I just went out there to execute the first 50 metres and I did that, so I am pleased with the end result," Powell said.

Powell appeared to lead Bolt for the first quartet of the race, but hinted he eased up as Bolt passed in a flash.
"I guess no one wanted to be beaten, but someone had to play it safe," Powell, whose previous world record of 9.97 was beaten by Bolt's 9.72 run in New York last month.

"Bolt is running very well, he has ran 9.7 twice since the start of the year, I am just coming off injury, so I guess I should be the one to play it safe," continued Powell.

Michael Frater was third in 10.04 seconds.

In the men's 400-metre hurdles final, Danny McFarlane, silver medallist at the Athens Olympics in 2004, won in 48.68 seconds, chased by Isa Phillips (49.08) and Markino Buckley (49.14).

In the women's one-lap hurdles, Melaine Walker (54.58) retained her national title with victory over Nickeisha Wilson (54.74) and Shevon Stoddart (54.88).

Trecia Smith, the 2005 World champion, won the women's triple jump with 13.61 metres.

Usain Bolt and Olympic champion Veronica Campbell captured 200-metre titles at the Jamaica National Track and Field Championship at the National Stadium on Sunday night.

Bolt clocked an easy 19.97 seconds to win the men’s 200, and Campbell-Brown sped to a career-best and world-leading 21.94 seconds to land the women’s half-lap sprint as the meet, serving as Olympic trials, completed three days of competition.

 

Cricket WIPA To Manage Image Rights For 75 Members
 

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The West Indies Players Association have been assigned the image and intellectual property rights for 75 of their members as set out in the formal agreement between the players and WIPA.

 It is an initiative that has been welcomed by WIPA and its members as the organization seeks to exploit and maximize the full commercial potential for the use of the players’ intellectual property and image rights.

 “WIPA has fought many long and tough battles in recent times including those to protect the intellectual property and imaging rights of players and we are quite pleased that the parameters are now much clearer in relation to such rights,” said WIPA President and CEO, Dinanath Ramnarine .

“One would appreciate that the imaging and intellectual property rights are one of the most valuable asset and resource of a player.”

 Players’ image rights include their names, nickname, assumed name, likeness, image, portrait, picture, photograph, caricature, voice, signature, signifier, representation or reproduction of the same in any form whatsoever. 

They also include logos or other identification, statements, quotations and biographical or other detail, and all associated fame, reputation and goodwill associated with the player, along with any registered or unregistered trademarks. “WIPA is indeed honoured and privileged to be given this responsibility and show of confidence from its membership and shall do all that is necessary to ensure that its members’ rights are fully protected and optimally utilized,” Ramnarine said.The assigning of these image rights follows the emerging trend of similar arrangements between cricket players and their associations as in the case with the equivalent groups in South Africa and England.