分类： sports

The 27th Pan-American Senior Squash Championships, hosted in Asuncion, Paraguay, delivered exciting results for Caribbean squash nations on Thursday, as Barbados’ women’s team punched their ticket to the competition’s quarter-final stage with a dominant 2-0 win over regional rival Guyana.

Fresh off a strong showing at the CAC Championships held in the Dominican Republic just prior to this tournament, the Barbadian women carried their red-hot international form into the cross-Caribbean clash. Eboni Atherley set the tone for the match early, securing a straight-game win over Guyana’s Kirsten Gomes with set scores of 11-8, 11-5, and 11-4 to put Barbados on the board first.

The victory was soon sealed by Margot Prow, the newly crowned CAC champion, who also claimed a straight-game win against Ashley Khalil. Prow’s 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 win locked in the 2-0 advantage for Barbados, making the scheduled third singles match between Meagan Best of Barbados and Guyana’s Mary Fung-A-Fat unnecessary. The match was ultimately scratched from the schedule.

While the women’s team celebrated their quarter-final qualification, Barbados’ men’s squad also earned a spot in the tournament’s round of 16 after a hard-fought 2-1 win against the Dominican Republic. Shawn Simpson opened the men’s tie with a convincing straight-game victory over Jesus Pena, finishing with set scores of 11-2, 11-6, 11-8. The balance of the tie shifted, however, when Barbados’ top-ranked competitor Khamal Cumberbatch dropped a grueling five-game battle against Christopher Fernandez. The 51-minute match ended 7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 12-10, 11-13, leaving the overall tie tied at one win apiece.

It fell to Darien Benn to secure the men’s progression, and he delivered a dominant straight-game performance against Amado Hernandez, winning 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 to lock in Barbados’ spot in the round of 16. The men’s campaign hit a speed bump later the same day, however, when they faced a formidable host nation Peru side and fell 2-0. Alex Stewart lost in straight sets to Thiago Cabrejos (3-11, 5-11, 1-11), while Cumberbatch dropped another straight-game match to Alonso Escudero, with set scores of 8-11, 4-11, 6-11.

Barbados’ annual National Senior Games is gearing up for its 2024 iteration, with early registration numbers already passing the 150-athlete mark, and event leaders projecting a significant jump in sign-ups following the official launch event this Saturday.

Ytannia Wiggins, a sports advisor leading coordination for the games, shared that the 2024 competition has expanded to include 25 distinct sporting disciplines, and she is urging more Barbadian senior athletes to complete their registration before the event kicks off. “Early registration numbers are already looking really strong, and we fully expect that count to climb steadily after our public launch this Saturday,” Wiggins stated in a press briefing.

The official launch day will kick off with a ceremonial motorcade that starts at the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs. The procession will wind through multiple local residential communities, stop at Pelican Village, and end at Golden Square Freedom Park, where a day of public festivities will be held for attendees. At the park, visitors will be able to enjoy live entertainment, exhibition matches showcasing a range of competitive sports, and a public dance festival that includes line dancing and Latin dance open sessions.

For the track and field discipline at the heart of the games, the final round of field events is scheduled to take place on September 19 at Harrison College’s athletic grounds. The track event finals will follow one week later on September 26, hosted at the internationally recognized Usain Bolt Sports Complex. The entire National Senior Games program will wrap up on October 3 with the Active Living Festival, which also serves as the closing event for Barbados’ annual Month of the Elderly celebration.

A squad of young Barbadian swimmers has wrapped up competition at the 30th edition of the Goodwill Swimming Championships hosted in Trinidad, returning home with a fourth-place overall finish and a haul of medals that team leadership says signals strong long-term growth for the country’s swimming program.

Led by team manager Stacy Blunt, the delegation collected a total of 58 medals across age-group divisions: 15 gold, 20 silver, and 23 bronze. This marked a repeat of the team’s fourth-place ranking from the 2023 championships, though the total medal count dropped slightly from 69 a year prior. Blunt emphasized that the lower total did not reflect a dip in effort or commitment from the young competitors. Every athlete brought their full effort to every race, prioritizing the team’s collective success throughout the five-day regional event, she noted.

Multiple rising athletes delivered standout performances that caught coaching staff attention. One of the most impressive showings came from 11 to 12 age-group competitor Ziya Philips, who reached the podium in all seven of her events and set new personal best times in every single race. Philips ended the championships as the second-ranked overall swimmer in her division. Other top performers included Liam Courtenay, who took third overall in the 9-10 boys’ division, Darren Anka who claimed third in the 13-14 boys’ category, and Amaya Harrison who finished second overall among 15-17 girls.

Blunt explained that the team was selected with intentional long-term development as the core goal, rather than prioritizing a high medal count at Goodwill. The annual regional championships serve as a critical scouting opportunity to identify emerging talent with the potential to qualify for and compete at the 2025 CARIFTA Games, scheduled to take place next April. With athletes ranging from the 8-and-under division all the way up to the 15-17 age group, the Goodwill delegation gave coaching staff a full view of the talent pipeline progressing through Barbados’ youth system, Blunt added.

Now that the team has returned to Barbados, swimmers will head back to their local clubs and resume their structured daily training routines, which include dedicated morning and afternoon practice sessions. The next 12 months bring a packed competition schedule to continue honing their skills and earn qualifying spots for CARIFTA: the domestic calendar includes interscholastic championships set for November, the Short Course National Championships in December, and the Long Course National Championships in February, alongside regular inter-club meets. A small selected group of top contenders will also travel to qualifying meets in Trinidad and Jamaica, which are officially recognized as CARIFTA qualifying events.

Blunt closed by extending gratitude to key stakeholders that made the Goodwill trip possible: the Barbados Aquatic Sports Association for creating development opportunities for youth swimmers, and the parents, guardians, and supporters who traveled to Trinidad to cheer on the team. Reflecting on Barbados’ swimming performance across 2024 as a whole, Blunt said the sport continues to deliver encouraging results at every level of competition. The country performed strongly at this year’s CARIFTA Games, and a number of Barbadian swimmers also earned spots to compete at both the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and the Commonwealth Games in 2024.

“Right now, the standard of competitive swimming in Barbados sits at a very high level,” Blunt said. “We have a cohort of exceptional coaches who are consistently working to prepare these young swimmers, not just for regional competitions like Goodwill and CARIFTA, but for the highest level of international competition as well. I can say without a doubt that swimming in Barbados is in very good hands.”

A small Christ Church-based football club is celebrating one of the most impressive ascents in Barbadian domestic football, after booking its place in the Barbados Football Association’s top-tier Premier League for the 2027 season with two consecutive promotions. Parish Land locked in their promotion following a tense 3-2 win over Technique this Wednesday, a result that pushed the side to 53 points and second place in the Division One standings. With only one final round of regular season matches left to play, third-placed Pinelands has already been mathematically eliminated from catching Parish Land for the second and final promotion spot. What makes this milestone even more remarkable is the speed of the club’s climb: Parish Land spent just one season competing in Division One after earning promotion from Division Two, also in a single season. Club president Kemar Ward shared that securing Premier League promotion was the team’s core target from the very first kick of the current campaign. “It was always a goal from the beginning. We were a really united unit and played together and for each other like a big family,” Ward said in a post-confirmation interview. When breaking down the keys to the team’s historic success, Ward highlighted the side’s dynamic attacking force as a standout strength, noting that Parish Land has netted more than 50 goals across the current Division One season. He also added that the club’s defensive organization has been equally solid, conceding only 22 goals so far. The confirmation of Parish Land’s promotion came even after Pinelands earned a 3-0 win over Empire that lifted the side three spots to third in the table with 47 points. Even with maximum points from their remaining fixture on August 26, Pinelands cannot close the 6-point gap to overtake Parish Land for the promotion slot. Pro Shottas, the other team that has already secured promotion to the Premier League, currently sits atop the Division One standings with 55 points, leaving the league title still up for grabs in the final match week. If Pro Shottas drops points with a loss in their final game and Parish Land secures a win, the Christ Church club will overtake the league leaders to claim the Division One championship title. Ward, however, struck a realistic tone when talking about his side’s chances of topping the table. While he is confident his team will put in a winning performance in their final fixture, he expects Pro Shottas to hold onto their lead. “I don’t see them losing honestly, but it was a good season. We fought it out twice and they won the first game while we won the second and everyone dropped some points in between. We ended up also drawing one more game than them and this is where the difference in points came about. We began the season with the intention of being promoted and are fine with second place to be honest,” Ward conceded. Now that their Division One campaign is all but wrapped up, the club will shift its focus to the upcoming Prime Minister’s Cup, which is scheduled to kick off on September 7. Ward noted that Parish Land will enter the cup competition in peak physical and competitive form, thanks to the tight end to their regular season and a recent run of consistent wins. For Ward, who has overseen the club’s climb since taking over as president, the back-to-back promotions are a point of particular pride. “We actually only spent one year in Division One. Most of the other teams spent several years at this level and some even got demoted. We only spent one year in Division Two as well. Since I became president, we got promoted each season,” he said. In other Division One matches held this Wednesday, Whitehall claimed a narrow 3-2 win over Notre Dame, Deacons delivered a dominant 13-4 victory over Fitts Village, and Potential Ballers beat Greens by a 3-0 scoreline.