Stuck in the blocks: The sports COVID left in its wake
Published:Tuesday | January 4, 2022 | 12:07 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
A NUMBER of sports in Jamaica have been on an extended hiatus because of the health concerns spurred by the two-year-plus global pandemic, COVID-19.
While sports such as rugby and boxing competed internationally, government approval to hold local competitions was not granted.
Sports like lacrosse, hockey, equestrian, polo and squash were unfortunate to not have any local or international competitions.
Tennis players saw a return to some kind of normality, having participated in competitions, both locally and internationally.
Jamaica Rugby Union doesn’t fare so well
The Jamaica Rugby Union (JRU) national men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams had contrasting preparations for the World Rugby Sevens Repêchage Olympic qualifiers in Monaco, in June.
The majority of male players come from the United Kingdom and so benefited from playing regularly, while the mostly local-based female team only had a few weeks of training before the tournament, after failing to get government approval for a training camp.
To make matters worse, the women would go on to miss the tournament after difficulties securing European visas and missing their flight to Monaco. While the men made it to the tournament, they lost all four of their games.
The men would bounce back tough. In August, they created their own bit of history at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series in Vancouver, Canada, when they defeated Chile 10-5 for their first win at the elite level.
However, a week later in Edmonton, they lost all five matches with a weakened team.
In September, the Jamaica Crocs defeated Mexico 24-7 to win the Fireminds Rugby Americas North Sevens tournament in the Turks and Caicos.
The win secured a place in the Super Sevens tournament in Mexico this February, which will serve as qualifiers to the CAC, Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup.
Jamaica Rugby League earns valuable world ranking points
The national men’s rugby league team travelled to the UK to face England and Scotland in two friendly internationals in October.
In the first match against the English, Jamaica suffered a 10-try, 56-4, defeat.
The match was also a testimonial for Castleford Tigers and Jamaica three-quarter Jordan Turner.
A little over a week later, the Jamaicans restored some pride against the Scots with a sensational 30-30 draw in a Test match for world ranking points.
Lawn Tennis gives rise to new star
Blaise Bicknell was the nation’s standout player for 2021. The 19-year-old University of Florida student played a critical role in the school’s victory at the NCAA National Championship and the SEC Championship in June.
Bicknell won all of his matches in the season, finishing with a win record of 32-0, and became the first Jamaican male to win an NCAA championship.
He also made history as the first player from his university since 1976 to go undefeated in a season.
A month later, a Jamaica men’s team comprising Bicknell and Rowland Phillips defeated Bahamas 2-0 in the Americas Zone Group Three Men’s Davis Cup semi-finals, to advance to Group Two.
Tennis also returned to the local circuit after 18 months with the staging of the All-Jamaica Open, following government approval in November.
Roland Phillips and Katherine Dibbs won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively.
Phillips defeated third-seed Dwayne Pagon 6-1, 6-1 for the $250,000 purse.
Meanwhile, in the female final, Dibbs beat top seed Shea-Ann Kameka 6-3, 6-1 to claim the $100,000 prize.
Boxing on pause, Brown joins the rank of professionals
An Olympic boxing qualifier scheduled for Argentina in May was postponed for a second time in April, and eventually cancelled.
The cancellation forced a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) boxing task force to use a ranking system to select qualifiers. and Ricardo Brown, a Pan American Games bronze medallists, ranked fourth in the Americas in his super heavyweight class, amassed the points to secure his spot.
However, Brown lost his first fight at the Tokyo Games 4-1 to India’s Satush Kumar.
In November, the 31-year-old Brown stepped into the professional ranks when he signed with Canadian promoting company United Promotions.
On the local scene, the Jamaica Boxing Board (JBB) had hoped to stage an international boxing show on the island, but struggled to get approval.
When the JBB was finally granted permission in November, there were other delays because of the protocols put in place. The majority of fighters on the card were from Colombia, and so would need to spend two weeks in quarantine before they could compete. That protocol made attending the event for the fighters prohibitive.
In December, Joshua Frazer, who had also recently turned professional, won his debut over Paul Ezekuiel Acosta by way of a technical knockout.
Lacrosse suffers from COVID, no funding
Lacrosse didn’t have any competition internationally or locally. The Jamaica Lacrosse Association did not submit requests to the Government for the restart of competitions because as a self-funded organisation, they did not have the resources to maintain COVID-19 protocol requirements.
Polo and Equestrian, find it tough going
Equestrian and polo faced a similar situation tolacrosse locally, as both associations decide to wait out the year, limiting their activities to just practice games and mock competitions.
Although there was no club competition, polo clubs held in-house practice games to keep players active after COVID restrictions were relaxed in June.
The Jamaica Polo Association said to get competitions going, it needed approval from various government bodies; and with polo having so many revolving parts, a decision was taken to accept the difficulty, relegating the players to in-house games for fun.
Equestrian fared a little better, with training sessions at a number of riding centres around the island on offer. The Equestrian Federation Jamaica even reported a significant increase in participation in the sport.
One step forward, two steps back for squash
Caribbean champion Chris Binnie returned to competitive action after a 15-month injury layoff when he competed at the Life Time Atlanta Open in June.
Binnie, who was defending champion, advanced to the semi-finals, but could not repeat as champion.
In November, the Jamaica Squash Association (JSA) pulled out of the 2021 Squash World Cup in New Zealand.
This decision was spurred by a combination of financial challenges and the national team’s unpreparedness.
The JSA was granted approval to host the Caribbean Championship that same month; however, the event was postponed until January of 2022 on account of COVID concerns.
The local championship, which received approval in December, was also pushed back to January.
Triathlon restarts at the very end
The Jamaica Triathlon Association held their annual general meeting in November and Carl Sharpe was elected president unopposed.
In December, the association staged its first competition of the year, the National Championships in Port Royal on November 20, with Elisabeth Mondon and Phillip McCatty emerging the female and male winners, respectively.
Sharpe was elated with the turnout, believing it showed signs of the sport’s growth despite the challenges thrown up by COVID-19.