Dr Paul Wright | Women continue to show class

After weeks of the male dominated World Cup football, our ladies have responded by grabbing all the feel-good headlines in sport this past week. Swimming sensation and national treasure Alia Atkinson, on returning to a city where she conquered everything in the pool, has already grabbed three gold medals and seem on track to bring more glory to our fair isle.

Also, at the Central American and Caribbean Games, now going on in Colombia, our hockey girls rebounded with a 5-0 victory against Guatemala and now should be facing Caribbean neighbours, Trinidad and Tobago, in a quest to ensure a medal at the games.

Here at home, the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Champion of Champions High School Netball tournament, held at the Leila Robinson Courts resulted in the two Jamaican entrants, Holmwood Technical High School and Excelsior High decisively trouncing every opponent that they faced before meeting in the all-Jamaica final.

In that match, the green and yellow girls from Mountain View completely dominated Holmwood, who in the pre-tournament build up to the Championships were the book favourites.

THIRST FOR COMPETITION

The 46-27 margin of victory by XLCR surprised the coach and most of their vociferous supporters in the final last Saturday. These championships and the crowd support that it engendered, only highlights the thirst that netball fans have for international competition involving our beloved Sunshine Girls. It is now nigh on two years since our world-ranked ladies have played here at home. We can't wait for the new-look Sunshine Girls to show their skills here at home.

On the track Natoya Goule, who had challenges breaking two minutes in the 800 metres, broke her own national record with a sparkling 1.56.15 time in a Diamond League event in Monaco last Friday. She followed up with another sub-two minute run soon after proving that her new found form is no fluke or flash in the pan.

Her bold front-running style appears to be working in her favour, as her Diamond League opponents seem unsure whether to sit behind or pressure her before the 600-metre mark. Go Natoya! No mention of female track and field could be complete without a big shout-out to our 'Mommy Rocket' who returned to victory with a fantastic 10.98 seconds run, resulting in victory at the Muller Anniversary Games in London last Saturday.

The coincidental news of the decision by our World and Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson to finally put an end to her season, has been received by loud sighs of relief from knowledgeable fans, who have long recognised that our E.T. has been running injured. It just could not be understood why, in what is recognised as an off year, would a world-class athlete continue to compete injured, when prolonged rest and treatment for her now-confirmed Achilles tendon injury would ensure that next year she would be at her best.

With the resurgence of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, we now can look forward with great anticipation to battles between our two top female sprinters, as we continue to prove to the world that we are truly the sprint capital of the world.

Finally a word of condolence to our internationally ranked track and field guru Bruce James, who is also the president of the local Track club MVP. Bruce lost his wife last weekend after a courageous battle against cancer. To Bruce, his two daughters and extended family, stay strong, your pain is real and understandable, but the support of your many fans and friends will ease some of the pain.