Friday, September 13, 2024

30 THE WEEKEND STAR SPORTS • September 13 - 15, 2024 @JamaicaStar www.facebook.com/JamaicaStar • www.jamaica-star.com RAYMOND GRAHAM STAR Writer O LYMPIC GAMES silver medal- lists Shanieka Ricketts and Wayne Pinnock are two of 10 Jamaicans going for glory on today’s open- ing day of the two-day Allianz Memorial Van Damme Wanda Diamond League finals in Brussels. With a Diamond Trophy and cash prize of US$30,000 for the winners in 32 events over the two days, both Pinnock and Ricketts will be hoping to end their season on a high. Pinnock will be the first Jamaican in action today as he will contest the men’s long jump finals at 1:17 p.m Jamaica time. He will be joined by compatriots Carey McLeod and Tajay Gayle. Coming off his first Diamond League success a week ago in Zurich where he also got his first career win over Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentaglou of Greece, Pinnock will be hoping to better his season’s best of 8.36m in his bid to top Tentaglou, who has a season’s best 8.65m. Simon Ehammer of Switzerland with a best of 8.41m and Mattia Furlani of Italy whose 2024 best is 8.38m should make this event a close affair. Ricketts found her best form at the Olympic Games to finish second in the women’s triple jump with a season’s best 14.87m. She maintained that good form in Silesia, Poland, for her first Diamond League success of the season. The 32-year-old will be hoping to capture her second career Diamond Trophy in the event after claiming top honours in Zurich in 2019. Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica will be missing, but Ricketts and fellow Jamaican Ackelia Smith, an Olympic finalist, will face strong competition from Cuba’s Leyanis Hernandez-Perez who has three Diamond League wins this season and a season’s best 14.96m. Both Ackeem Blake, with a season’s and personal best of 9.89 seconds and Rohan Watson, 10.07, will line up in the men’s 100m final. Blake is coming off a recent morale boosting win at a World Athletics Continental Tour meet in Bellinzona, Switzerland, where he clocked 9.96. He will battle Americans Fred Kerley, the Olympic Games bronze medallist with a season’s best of 9.81, and Christian Coleman, whose season’s best is 9.86. Other Jamaicans competing in Diamond League events today are Danniel Thomas-Dodd in the women’s shot put, Fedrick Dacres in the men’s discus and Natoya Goule-Toppin in the women’s 800m. One of the highlights of the day will be the women’s 100m where Olympic champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia will clash with American World champion Sha’Carri Richardson. Alfred triumphed in Paris, but Richardson came out on top recently in Zurich. Three other Jamaicans will be in action in two non-Diamond League invitational 400m events today. Stacey-Ann Williams, fresh off her season’s and personal best of 50.00 seconds win earlier this week at a World Athletics Continental Tour meet in Zagreb, Croatia, and Stephenie Ann McPherson, will take on Americans Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women’s one-lap event. In the men’s 400m, national record-holder Rusheen McDonald will face Belgian brothers Kevin and Dylan Borlee. Jamaicans hunt glory at Diamond League finale GREGORY BRYCE STAR Writer O wen Hill, CEO of Professional Football of Jamaica Limited (PFJL), said recent improve- ments in operations of the Wray and Nephew-sponsored Jamaica Premier League (JPL) has cemented the league as the best football compe- tition in the Caribbean. The JPL is set to kick off the 2024/25 season this weekend and Hill promises more excitement and drama for football fans in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. A new trend Hill has observed throughout the summer is the increased signings of regional talent who have made the JPL their destination league for the future. He believes this trend will continue as the JPL clubs further their ambitions for success in regional competitions by recruiting the region’s best talents. “It is the number-one league in region, I can tell you that. The facts are there and the statistics show that,” Hill stated. “It gives the strength to the individual clubs and all of them have the ambition of winning the Caribbean Cup and getting very far in the Championship Cup and what we’re seeing is a proliferation of that and strengthening of the clubs,” he added. A major change for this season will see the JPL return to three rounds of matches in the regular season, as opposed to two rounds which was used last season. This will be the first time since the suspended 2019/2020 season that the JPL last played three rounds of regular season matches and will increase the number of games for each team from 26 up to 39. Hill said the increase will provide greater opportunity for players to showcase their talent on the main stage, as well as bring more excitement for fans to come out and enjoy. “As you can see, we’ll keep building the league and building on our own strategic plans and trying to get it bigger and better. You’ll have more games and that gives more opportunities to the players,” he explained. “Then you have stronger partnerships that encourage the clubs to performmore professionally. We have a wider pool of talent to deal with so what fans can expect is more excitement, jam-packed football and high intensity and quality games.” Match week one of the competition begins this Sunday. gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com JPL best in the region SUNDAY’S GAMES • Vere vs MoBay at Wembley Centre of Excellence (3 p.m.) • Portmore vs Mt Pleasant at Ferdie Neita Park (4 p.m.) • Tivoli vs Molynes at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex (5 p.m.) • Arnett vs Dunbeholden at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex (7:30 p.m.) MONDAY’S GAMES • Harbour View vs Chapelton at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex (5 p.m.) • Waterhouse vs Racing at Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex (7:30 p.m.) Wayne Pinnock @D iamonD _L eague Shanieka Ricketts g LaDstone t ayLor Kaheim Dixon (centre) of Arnett Gardens trying to get by Christopher Ainsworth (left) and Kyle Ming (right) from Cavalier Soccer Club during the Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League football semi-final at Sabina Park last season.Owen Hill, the CEO of Jamaica Premier League Football, says the JPL is the best league in the Caribbean. i an a LLen