Heartbreak for Roach

DELHI, India:

There was heartbreak for Jamaican heptathlete Peaches Roach, who marginally missed out on a medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games last night, while several Jamaicans, including the in-form Nickiesha Wilson, will be hunting medals this morning as the Games begins to gather more excitement.

Roach, who occupied a medal position for much of the competition, was made to rue her performances in the 200 metres, and javelin in particular, meaning she lost crucial points in areasshe was not really expected to, in the end finishing in a disappointing fourth (5,758 points), a mere 61 points behind third-place finisher Grace Clements of England.

Satisfied

The Central America and Caribbean Games champion blamed Friday's disastrous 24.52-second run in the 200m for costing her a medal, but maintained that she is still satisfied with the effort that she made throughout the competition and believes her experiences will serve her well.

"I lost it in the 200m, that's where I lost my medal," Roach lamented shortly after the final event. "I cannot explain it and I have no excuses, that was the worst 200m I have run in years. However, overall I'm obviously very disappointed that I'm not leaving here with a medal, but there is a lot to be taken away from this experience.

"This has encouraged me to put in even more hard work ahead of next season because, clearly, I can be among the best of them. I was in the top three after four events so it's certainly not a matter of a lack of talent, and it most definitely won't ever be a matter of a lack of effort or training on my part," Roach added.

The event was won by England's Louise Hazel with 6,156 points. Canada's Jessica Zelinka was second with 6,100 and Grace Clements (England) ending in third place with 5,819 points.

There was, however, some good news for Jamaica, as Nickiesha Wilson seems set to continue her good form, qualifying for today's women's 400m hurdles final with a winning time of 56.51 seconds in her qualifier. The women's 400m hurdles final is scheduled to start at 8:05 a.m. Jamaica time.

Adrian Findlay also made progress yesterday, and will be seeking to secure a medal in the men's version, which runs off at 8 a.m. Findlay qualified as one of the fastest losers after finishing third in his heat in 50.25 seconds.

The men's and women's 200m finals are also on the schedule for a 9:25 a.m. start, with several Jamaicans hoping to qualify from their respective semi-finals which will be contested two hours earlier.

Round-two clash

Lansford Spence has looked good so far after two rounds, and enters the semi-finals as joint quickest with a 20.60-second time. Spence, who finished behind Asafa Powell at this year's National Senior Championships, ran second in his round-two clash, ending with the same time as the winner, Jared Cannaughton from Canada.

On the women's side, Audria Segree and Nadia Cunningham may find things a little rough going into the semis. Segree did manage to finish second in her heat in 23.91 seconds, while Cunningham qualified as one of the fastest losers, finishing fifth in her heat in 24.76 seconds.

National champion Sheree Francis will feature in the women's high jump final at 7:05 a.m. while Tanice Barnett will be the island's lone entry in the women's 800m heats.

Long jump pair Nickeisha Beaumont and Nickevea Wilson both failed to progress from the qualifying stage of the women's long jump, both managing just one legal jump each: 5.62m and 5.92m, respectively, for ninth and seventh places.

Zara Northover was close to a bronze medal, but lost it in the penultimate round when Samoa's Tasele Satupai eclipsed her 16.31m hurl with a throw of 16.43m.

Northover had one more chance to regain the third-place spot after the Samoan had a foul throw on her last attempt, but the Jamaican could only throw 15.69m with her last-round effort.

In the women's javelin finals, Kateema Reitie was sixth with a best throw 53.80m while Tamilee Kerr was last with 46.06m.

Competition

Jamaica's netballers were scheduled to play host nation India at 1:30 a.m. in their last preliminary-round clash before their anticipated semi-final clash against world number two-ranked New Zealand on Tuesday.

Jamaica were perfect in the preliminary round of the men's singles competition at the Yamuna Sports Complex, with all four representatives scoring big wins over their opponents.

National Champion Joseph Dibbs defeated Uganda's Kevin Mafabi 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 11-6), Simon Tomlinson got the better of Rama Sleiman 4-0 (12-10, 13-11, 11-7, 12-10), Nigeria's Ekundayo could not play his match against Imani McPherson resulting in a walkover being awarded to the Jamaican, while Kane Watson outpowered Abdul Kargbo 4-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 11-8).

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