分类： sports

Elite athletes representing Barbados have delivered a mix of standout and solid performances across multiple sporting disciplines at the ongoing Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games hosted in the Dominican Republic, with one top surfer punching her ticket to the next stage of competition.

Chelsea Tuach, Barbados’ leading female professional surfer, secured a second-place finish in her preliminary heat, a result that earned her a coveted spot in the men’s shortboard semifinal scheduled to take place Tuesday. Following her successful qualifying run, Tuach is set to face off against Venezuela’s top surfer Rosanny Alvarez in the knockout round for a spot in the final.

In the men’s shortboard surfing competition, Barbadian contender Jacob Burke wrapped up his tournament run with a respectable fifth-place finish, wrapping up the country’s surfing contingent results for the Games.

Beyond the waves, Barbados picked up a thrilling win in men’s Group A hockey action, overpowering Guatemala 4-2 in a competitive matchup. The Caribbean side’s victory was fueled by a brace from forward Kanye Wharton, with additional strikes from Ahijah Springer and Khodi Gibson sealing the three points for Barbados.

In men’s individual golf play, after three full rounds of competition, Barbadian golfer Xzavier Wiggins holds down 13th position in the tight 14-player field, with more play set to come to determine the final medal standings.

One of the most dramatic comebacks of the day for Barbados came in the Men’s Rugby Sevens draw, where the side overturned a 0-5 halftime deficit against Costa Rica to rally for a dominant 24-5 final win. Forward John Simon led the team’s second-half charge, finishing the match with five total points to anchor the comeback victory.

As football fans across the Caribbean gear up for one of the most anticipated knockout matches of the regional calendar, five-time consecutive Barbados Football Association Premier League title holders Weymouth Wales have entered their Caribbean Football Union Shield quarterfinal tie against Jamaica’s Mount Pleasant in Trinidad and Tobago brimming with quiet confidence. The fixture, scheduled for Tuesday, marks one of four pivotal quarterfinal matchups that will determine which teams advance to the next stage of the regional competition. Weymouth Wales, who finished as runners-up in their domestic league last season, face a formidable test against the Jamaican side, which carries the prestige of being current CONCACAF Cup champions.

In an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY from his team’s base in Trinidad, Weymouth Wales head coach Asquith Howell outlined his side’s approach to the high-profile clash, saying the team would stick to the same game philosophy that has carried them through previous knockout tournaments. “We will go in there with the same mindset,” Howell explained. “We respect them fully because they are CONCACAF Cup champions, but at the end of the day, 11 players play against 11 players on the same pitch. We hope we don’t only make ourselves proud, but the entire nation of Barbados as well.”

The Barbadian side will have to navigate the challenge without one of their key attacking threats: speedy starting winger and former Barbados national team captain Rashad Jules, who is suspended for the tie after receiving a red card in the team’s previous CFU Shield encounter. Compounding the selection headache for Howell is a fitness doubt over midfielder Kemar Headley, who picked up an injury in Weymouth Wales’ opening group stage match against S.V. Britannia. Headley has been named to the match day squad but is listed as 50/50 to feature, with Howell indicating he will start the game on the bench as a precaution.

Weymouth Wales progressed out of the group stage with a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout win over S.V. Britannia, after the two sides played to a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes of regulation time. Howell admitted that his team made costly mistakes in that opening game that they have since worked to correct. Armando Lashley gave the Barbadians an early lead, but Howell said the side let their guard down immediately after the opening goal, falling into the same bad habit that plagued some of their domestic BFA Premiership results during the current campaign.

“We went in there with a clear game plan, but I think our guys got complacent right after we scored that early goal,” Howell said. “We stepped off the gas, just like we did in some BFA matches this season when we failed to convert our chances to finish off games and put the result away. That was definitely a point of concern for the coaching staff, but we’ve put in the work over the last few days to fix those small errors, and I think we are fully prepared to take on Mount Pleasant.”

Over on the Mount Pleasant camp, the Jamaican side is just as confident of securing a positive result, with Sporting Director Paul Christie saying the team is targeting not just a win on Tuesday, but lifting the entire CFU Shield trophy. Unlike Weymouth Wales, Mount Pleasant received a bye directly to the round of 16, where their scheduled opponent All Saints United withdrew from the competition, giving the Jamaican side a walkover straight to the quarterfinals. This means Tuesday’s clash will be Mount Pleasant’s first competitive fixture of this year’s tournament.

Speaking ahead of the tie to the Jamaica Observer, Christie said the club thrives under the pressure of high-stakes knockout football, drawing on his nearly 30 years of experience in the sport. “I’ve been in football for almost 30 years, and I’ve never felt pressure in my career. I don’t do pressure – we live for moments like this,” Christie said. “When people say a result can’t be done, we work to show them there’s always a way, and our job is to find that way. For truly great players, the bigger the moment, the brighter they shine. If you can’t perform when the stakes are highest, you’re in the wrong sport.”

Christie added that the tie represents a historic opportunity for the club to claim its first CFU Shield trophy, a piece of silverware that has never been added to the Mount Pleasant club’s collection. He stressed that the team would not take the field with an overconfident, entitled attitude, instead focusing on executing their game plan to earn the result. “This is our chance to bring a trophy home that has never been in Mount Pleasant’s trophy cabinet,” he said. “We aren’t going into this match thinking we are owed a win. We know we have to work for every moment, we will do the best we can, and accept whatever result comes after that.”

The 2014 Commonwealth Games hosted in Scotland have wrapped up the first round of sprint and swimming events, with mixed results for Team Barbados across multiple competitions. In the men’s 100-meter sprint discipline, young Barbadian sprinter Kuron Griffith delivered a solid performance in Heat 7, crossing the finish line in 10.24 seconds to claim third place. The result earned him a coveted spot in the upcoming second round of the tournament. Unfortunately, Griffith’s teammate Julian Forde could not replicate that success. Competing in his own qualifying heat, Forde posted a time of 10.58 seconds to finish fifth, a result that left him just outside the qualification cut-off and ended his 100m campaign in the opening round.

On the women’s side of the 100m sprint, Barbados also earned a second-round berth thanks to sprinter Kishawna Niles. Nimes held her own against a deep field of competitors in Heat 8, clocking an 11.52-second run to secure second place in her heat and punch her ticket to the next stage of the competition.

Over in the swimming pool, the Barbadian team faced early eliminations in two qualifying events. In the men’s 200-meter butterfly, Victor Ashby competed in Heat 3 and posted a time of 2 minutes 17.94 seconds, finishing seventh in the heat. That time was not fast enough to advance him to the subsequent rounds. Similarly, in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke, Adara Stoddard placed fifth in Heat 2 with a time of 34.35 seconds, which also saw her miss the mark for qualification and exit the competition in the opening stage.

After wrapping up its third annual competition at the Raymond Forde Tennis Centre in Wildey on Sunday, the South West Open Tennis tournament’s leadership is pushing for greater private sector partnership to unlock the event’s full growth potential. Tournament Director Justin Atkins has publicly renewed his call for Barbados’ corporate community to step up with additional support, framing increased investment as the critical catalyst to expand the competition into separate elite men’s and women’s opens that would offer higher-stakes opportunities for a broader pool of athletes.

This year’s tournament delivered on-court excitement that exceeded the quality of the first two installments, according to Atkins. In the hotly contested doubles final, the father-son duo of Lucas and Tyler Davis defeated top seeds Russell Moseley and Christian Blunte with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline. Lucas Davis continued his winning streak in the singles final, returning to the court to dominate Moseley in a straight-set 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Atkins noted that the 2024 iteration retained the high-caliber competition that established the tournament’s reputation, with standout local talents including Lucas Davis, Russell Moseley, Ammon Archer and Christian Blunte turning in strong performances. While the event missed the participation of Davis Cup representative Xavier Lawrence, who competed last year, Atkins emphasized that the overall competitive quality remained on par with previous years.

One of the most encouraging outcomes of this year’s tournament, Atkins said, was the high turnout of junior Barbadian players. Many young Barbadian athletes typically travel to the United States and nearby Caribbean islands to compete in sanctioned ranking events, but a large contingent returned home to compete in the South West Open this year. Atkins attributed this surge in junior participation to the tournament’s adoption of the Universal Tennis Ranking (UTR) system, a globally recognized standard that gives young athletes official ranking points to advance their competitive careers.

Looking ahead, Atkins highlighted the UTR system as a key tool to grow the tournament’s international profile, expecting it to draw more elite foreign competitors in future editions. But he stressed that separating the competition into dedicated Men’s Open and Women’s Open draws — a move that would elevate the event’s status and open more opportunities for athletes of all genders — will only be possible with increased financial and organizational backing from Barbados’ corporate sector. Without that additional support, Atkins argued, the tournament will not be able to reach its full potential as a cornerstone of Caribbean competitive tennis.

The reconstruction of Barbados’ new National Stadium in Waterford is progressing steadily according to schedule, with project leaders confirming the facility remains on target for full completion and handover in the third quarter of 2027. Lead engineer Wang Lianglin from China’s Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) shared the latest update on the project during a media briefing hosted by the Chinese Embassy, outlining the current work stage and upcoming milestones.