SDC 20/20 cricket bowls off

Several cricket matches will be played this weekend across the island as four venues will be used in each parish to facilitate the elimination process of the National Community Cricket Competition.

This is to reduce the number of community teams that wish to participate in the Social Development Commission's (SDC) National Community Cricket Competition which will be played later in the year.

The rallies will be held today and tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. Each match in the rallies will be five overs per side. This is to ensure that all teams will get a chance at being involved in the main competition.

Lititz/Comma Pen won the competition in 2006 when thousands of spectators from across Jamaica turned up at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium to watch the final between Broughton out of Westmoreland and Lititz/Comma Pen from St Elizabeth. At the time, the competition was used to sensitise the communities about the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

The National Community Cricket Competition was designed and introduced by the SDC to encourage youth participation in cricket at the community level. Additionally, it was introduced in order to foster interaction among community members as this has been proven to be successful in the past.

Beach volleyball tourney

A beach volleyball tournament and fund-raiser will be held today at the Burwood Public Beach, Falmouth, Trelawny, starting at 8 a.m.

Jamaica Out and Bounce Beach Volleyball Players, US Peace Corps, Jamaica Defence Force, G.C. Foster, US amateur teams and high schools are some of the teams expected to take part in the day-long event, which is set to finish at 8 p.m.

Prizes of $20,000, trophies and gifts will be given out to top teams and players.

Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships

The 2008 Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships will be held tonight at Stephanie Hall, Holy Childwood High School, 9 Skibo Avenue.

The championships, which were postponed due to the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav on August 30, will see competitors coming from all across the island.

Michael Clarke, Richard Nelson, Oneil Clarke, Roy Wheatley, Patrick Kerr, Howard Stennett, Clayton Powell and Safin Bouland will be just few of the top bodybuilders in action.

Clarke is the defending heavyweight champion while Cecil Beacon is the defending middleweight champion and Ainsworth Carridice is the lightweight and overall winner of 2007.

Organisers expect all classes to be competitive, especially the fitness section. Prejudging will take place at 10 a.m. and the finals at 8:00 p.m. under the watchful eyes of chief judge Clifford Chin.

Passagefort unbeaten in Colin Fagan domino

Passagefort United ended the preliminary round of the Colin Fagan domino competition as the only unbeaten team when they crushed Portsmouth United 300-238 in an away match at the Portsmouth Community Centre last Sunday.

Passagefort thus ended their preliminary fixture boasting a 100 per cent record of seven wins from as many matches and have advanced to tomorrow's semi-finals.

In other matches played last Sunday, Ken's Wildflower, who suffered their only defeat against Passagefort United, played to an exciting 299-tie with Westchester United at Ken's Wildflower, Port Henderson Plaza, while home team Garveymeade clipped Waterford United 300-296 and Portmore Lane Tigers got by Westport United 300-260 at home.

The draw for tomorrow's semi-finals at neutral venues is as follows:

Passagefort United vs Garveymeade at 42 Portmore Lane and Ken's Wildflower vs Westchester at Garveymeade. Both matches start at 11:30 a.m. and the winners will meet in the final at the Edgewater Community Centre on Sunday, September 28.

The competition is sponsored by Colin Fagan, member of parliament for South East St Catherine.

MegaMart hunt third win

MegaMart Developmental Squad will hunt their third straight win when they take on defending champions Ken's Wildflower in the Petcom/MegaMart Portmore Metropolitan Cricket League at Ken's Wildflower sports ground. The game is set to bowl off at 11 a.m.

MegaMart have ticked off two victories in a row while Ken's won one game and the other was washed out. In MegaMart's last encounter, they turned back Colours with a 49-run victory last Saturday.

In other games, Portsmouth (two) battle wounded Colours International (four) at Waterford High School, in a game that can go either way, while Belmont are expected to get the better of Reid's Pen when the two meet at the Bridgeport Sports ground. Both games begin at 11 a.m.

KSAFA Under-17 quarter-final action

The quarter-finals of the Transfer Plus Money/KSAFA Under-17 football competition are in progress with Tivoli clipping Harbour View 2-1 at Bell Chung Stadium in Vineyard Town in Zone 'A'.

The other Zone 'A' quarter-final match between Cooreville and Arnett Garden at Cooreville had to be postponed due to a waterlogged field.

In Zone 'B' quarter-final action, high-riding Cavalier and Waterhouse played to a 1-1 draw at Constant Sprint while Real Mona clipped Santos 1-0 at Buttercup Park.

Skittles icon Brown dies tragically

Local skittles lost one of its best known players on Sunday when Allan Brown of Mystix Skittles Club was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Portmore.

Following his team's upset win over high-riding Cherry's Strikers at Eastern All-Stars Club, Windward Road, on Sunday evening, Brown had just dropped off some of his teammates in the Portmore community when his motor vehicle was involved in the accident, which took his life.

Brown, who was in his late 40s, had been involved in local skittles for close to 30 years, playing for a number of clubs including Apex, Solitude, Track Price Plus and Dragon. But he will best be remembered as the man who revolutionised local skittles in the early and mid-'90s by securing big money sponsorship from Desnoes & Geddes and the Cigarette Company of Jamaica in his capacity as PRO for the Jamaica Skittles Association.

Brown, whose partner Jacinth 'Gigi' Kellier was president of the association at the time, was also instrumental in getting television coverage for skittles which continues to this day.

Sam Allen, president of the Jamaica Skittles Federation, hailed Brown's contribution to skittles and said he will be sadly missed.

Former president Leslie 'Toothpick' Puranda, a clubmate of Brown at Mystix (Hagley Park Road), described his former associate as "eloquent, a man of good ideas and a motivator". Puranda added that Brown took local skittles to another level and he will long be remembered for his contribution.