UWI awards athletes

In a show of appreciation and recognition for its students, athletes who have represented the institution at the local and international level, the University of the West Indies, Mona, will tonight at 7:00, be awarding over $500,000 in cash and prizes at its sports awards ceremony. The annual ceremony will be held at the Rex Nettleford Hall multi-purpose room. Joseph Pereira, deputy principal at the UWI, Mona campus, will be the guest speaker.

Awards will be presented to athletes for their outstanding performances in the various sporting disciplines over the last academic year. A sectional prize of Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year will also be awarded to two outstanding athletes from the list of awardees.

Myers takes Chan Chess Open

National Master Peter Myers won his first Open Chess title in over 10 years, copping the seventh staging of the Dr Harold Chan Chess Open, which took place last weekend at the Campion College auditorium. Myers ended the tournament as the only unbeaten player with five points from six games, after securing a draw in the last round on Sunday against National Master Russell Porter.

Second place went to National Master Andrew Mellace, who finished on 4.5 points, while third went to National Champion National Master Equitable Brown, who ended on four points.

In the Intermediate section for players with a Jamaica Chess Federation rating below 1600, Kingston College's Michael Antoine continued his good form by taking home the first-place prize after securing five points from six games. Second place went to Noel Brown and third went to Nikita Austin, each of whom also ended on five points but were relegated to lesser positions after the tiebreak was employed.

The Amateur Section for players with a Jamaica Chess Federation rating below 1200 was won by Lawrence Foreman, who finished unbeaten on five points from as many games. Second place went to Justin Lowe, who ended on four points, while third was shared by six players who each ended on three points, Joshua Orgill, Rachell Miller, Jordan Chen, David Summerbell, Jordan Lowe and Kevin McGregor.

Other category prizes were awarded as follows: Best Under-12 - Jason Lawson, Best Under-14 - Shreyas Smith, Best Class C - Donovan Peart, Best Class B -John Williams, Best Class A - Raglon Wynter, Best Rural Player - Laurence Davey, Best Junior - Peter Thomas and Best Female - Ariel Barrett.

Motorcade for Cadet TT player

A ceremony was held by Blau-wearie Primary School in West-moreland recently to honour one of their students, 10-year-old Kimesha Williams, for representing Jamaica in table tennis at the recent Caribbean Region Cadet Championships.

The Championships, staged by the Caribbean Region Table Tennis Federation in Barbados last month attracted under-10 and under-13 players. It is staged annually on behalf of the International Table Tennis Federation with top performers advancing to the Latin American Championships and World Championships, scheduled for later in the year.

Williams was a member of the three-strong team (all girls) who represented Jamaica. They won a bronze medal. Williams' teammates were Ashley Lowe of Hillel Prep and Larissa McLaughlin of Portmore Missionary Prep.

During the celebrations, Williams and her schoolmates were paraded through the town of Savanna-la-Mar and surrounding areas. A function followed at the school where she was further lauded with parents, representatives from the school board, the Ministry of Education, the JTTA and the private sector (Frome Sugar Factory) in attendance. The achievement was recorded as a great one for a primary school in deep rural Jamaica.

Excelsior domino

Rohan Lynch and Carl Holness teamed up for Caribbean Classic Domino Club of Portmore to take home the top prize in last weekend's opening round of the inaugural Excelsior Domino Pairs Championship held at the Portmore HEART Academy. The pair took home $15,000 in prize money, two packs of branded dominoes and gift baskets. The winners won their sets in all the rounds and ended the final round which lasted 45 minutes for a best of three sets. They ended with a plus seven differential over the second-place team.

Second prize of $8,000, dominoes and gift baskets went to the pair of Wayne Samuels ad Winston Stephens of Waterford Domino Club. Third place went to the pair of Anthony Simpson and Courtney Lysight while Lyndel McCalla and Robert Moore picked up fourth place. They both (the pairs) bagged $6,000 each in prize money, dominoes and gift baskets.

The top 16 pairs will move on to the all-island finals to be held at UTech on Sunday, November 8, where the winning pair will get $500,000 in prize money.

The championship will now move on to The Quarry, Clarendon, today, after which it will go to Knox College, Manchester, tomorrow and St Elizabeth Technical High School, St Elizabeth, next Saturday.

Kimberly Simms scores hat-trick

The second set of quarter-final games in the 007-A-Side Champ-ionships was completed at the James Bond Beach Complex in Oracabessa, St Mary, last Sunday.

The female footballers stole the spotlight in both games played.

In the first encounter, Arsenal's female striker Kimberly Simms scored a hat-trick, including a bicycle kick that left the crowd in awe, to hand her team a 7-3 win over Boscobel, for whom Lance Cameron netted three times. Arsenal's other goals came from the boots of Richard Scott, who netted twice, Joseph Anderson and Sanjay Ennis, a goal each.

In game two, Scotland Strikers booked the last semi-final slot with resounding 4-0 win over Race Course United. Teenage striker, Natalie 'Nini' Wilson of Scottland Strikers lit the spark generated in the first game with two clinical finishes, leaving the opposing goalkeeper wrong-footed on both occasions she scored. Evon Geddes and Richard Scott were the other contributors with a goal each.

Blauwearie get TT table

The Jamaica Table Tennis Association donated a table tennis table to Blauwearie recently at a function to honour one of the school's students. The presentation was made by general secretary Justin Allen and development committee chairman Peter Kavanaugh, who was also the guest speaker at the function.

This was the first of a number of tables purchased by the Govern-ment through the Sports Develop-ment Foundation, mainly for primary and all-age schools, to be handed out. Distribution of the remaining tables, rackets, balls and nets will continue during the rest of this year and next year.

Reid's Pen test for Ken's Wildflower

Ken's Wildflower will get a stern test from Reid's Pen when the teams meet in a Wray and Nephew Overproof Rum Portmore Cricket League fixture at the Ken's Wildflower sports ground. Ken's have won their two games thus far quite easily, over Belmont and Wray and Nephew development squad. Reid's Pen, on the other hand, have plundered over 200 runs against Washington CC and both teams are in good nick.

In other games tomorrow, Cumberland tackle red-hot Colours International at the Hamilton Gardens ground, whereas Hamilton Gardens seek their first win of the season when they take on newcomers Portmore Pines at the Bridge-port ground. In a lone game today, Belmont square off with the Development squad at Ken's Wildflower sports ground. All games begin at 11 a.m.

Pool tourney starts today

Island Delight Restaurant Sports Bar/Wray and Nephew-sponsored 10th ranking pool tournament gets under way today and continues tomorrow at Byndloss Cross Roads in Linstead, starting at 3 p.m. both days.

The eight-ball tournament offers a first prize of $50,000 in addition to a trophy, second $20,000 and a trophy, third and fourth $5,000 each. Entry fee is $1,500, re-entry $1,000. Match time is 3 p.m. on both days.

Meanwhile, Montego Bay's top-ranked player, Noel 'Schoolboy' Blagrove, won the Palm Court Sports Bar pool tournament last weekend in Negril, coming from a game down to beat Marvin Grey from Hot Shots 3-1 in the best of five final.

Blagrove collected $50,000 and a trophy for his efforts, while Grey secured $20,000. Nicholas 'King-fish' Linton picked up $8,000 for third spot.

Equestrians jump to victory in T&T

Jason Walter and Gabby Ralston placed first in the Caribbean Equestrian Association Junior Show Jumping competition held last weekend at the Valmont Stables, Santa Cruz, Trinidad. This, the fourth leg of the 2009 competition, had riders from Cayman Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica competing over two days, with each rider traversing four different courses each time on different horses, after being given only five minutes to get adjusted to each horse.

Jason Walter, a fourth-form student at Wolmer's Boys' School, dominated the field in the 14 and under category. He had a flawless performance, being the only rider to accumulate a score of zero faults over the two days of competition and being awarded first place. Second place went to the rider from Cayman with four faults, Trinidad 16 faults and Barbados placed fourth with 17 faults.

Fifteen-year-old Hillel student Gabriella Ralston represented Jamaica in the 16 and under category, placing first with an accumulated score of 17 faults. The rider from Barbados placed second with 19 faults, Trinidad third with 21 faults and Grand Cayman fourth with 26 faults.

The Jamaican team travelled with coach Betty Wates, who was elated with the team's performance, stating "this victory brings us within reach to regain the Bernard Payten Memorial Shield that we last won in 2007, but lost to Barbados in 2008."

The final leg of the competition will take place on November 14 in Jamaica at the Kingston Polo Club and Equestrian Centre and will have Jamaica hosting the teams from Cayman, Bermuda and Trinidad. This final round will be very exciting, as both Jamaica and Cayman are entering the round tied on 10 points and have the opportunity to beat Barbados, who have ended the competition on 13 points.