ALEXANDER JOINS THE CLUB
Another Commonwealth medal for T&T jumper
By Kwame Laurence kwame.laurence@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Jul 29, 2014 at 9:36 PM ECT (T&T Express)Ayanna Alexander has joined the club—Trinidad and Tobago’s Commonwealth Games multiple-medallist club.
Alexander chose just the right occasion to produce her best 2014 effort, the 32-year-old athlete disturbing the sand at 14.01 metres to strike bronze in the women’s triple jump, at Hampden Park here in Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday.
“It feels great,” Alexander told the Express. “As always, there’s adversity here and there. Four months ago, I couldn’t walk. I’ve been bouncing back from an ankle injury. The plan was always to come here, and come back strong.”
It was a strong showing indeed, Alexander’s superb performance earning her membership in an elite club, alongside some of the biggest names in T&T sporting history.
Sprinter Edwin Roberts is the “president” of the club with five Commonwealth Games medals, captured at the 1966 and 1970 editions. Hasely Crawford, Kent Bernard and shooter Roger Daniel have three each, while eight athletes have achieved two podium finishes, for a total of 12 club members.
Ahead of the 2014 Games, Roger Gibbon, Leslie King, Rodney Wilkes, Brandon Bailey, Wendell Mottley, Benedict Cayenne and Cleopatra Borel were the double medallists. Alexander is the newbie, adding yesterday’s bronze to the silver she had earned in the same event at the 2010 Games in Delhi, India.
Afterwards, T&T’s first medallist here at Glasgow 2014 took a victory run on the back straight with the Red, White and Black blowing behind her. She then joined Jamaican gold medallist Kimberly Williams (14.21m) and English silver medallist Laura Samuel (14.09m) for a spirited victory lap.
“When I got silver in Delhi,” said Alexander, “I didn’t have a flag when the competition was finished. So this was the first time being able to experience taking a victory lap having a T&T flag draped around me. It was a really indescribable moment for me because I feel I was deprived of that in Delhi.
“I got a silver medal there,” she continued, “but just the whole overall feeling of being able to come back, knowing where I came from at the beginning of the season…I was probably counted out. I just thank God. I’m grateful to come and represent T&T another time at Commonwealth Games.”
Alexander endured the cold weather here in Glasgow, brushing aside the 16-degree Celsius conditions to put together a solid series of jumps—13.54m, 13.75m, 13.99m, a wind-assisted 13.53m, 14.01m, and finally, 13.77m.
Alexander and Borel are the only female members of the country’s multi-medallist club. In fact, they are the only women from T&T to have earned precious metal at the Commonwealth Games.
But Alexander is not satisfied. She wants to climb the podium at both the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Alexander knows medal success on the global stage does not come easily, and without calling names, she sent out a strong message to the powers that be.
“I’m hearing that people want medals, so the goal is to get on that podium. I hope the plan is in place to help get me there.”
In the words of Jesus, in Matthew 11:15, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Alexander jumps to Commonwealth bronze
By JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH Wednesday, July 30 2014 (T&T Newsday)
AYANNA ALEXANDER became the first Trinidad and Tobago athlete to medal at the 20th edition of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, yesterday, when she leapt to bronze in the women’s triple-jump event at Hampden Park Stadium.Alexander launched a distance of 14.01 metres to secure her precious podium spot, finishing behind eventual winner Kimberly Williams of Jamaica (14.21m) and silver medallist Laura Samuel of England (14.09m). This was also Williams’ season best performance and Samuel’s personal best distance. Alexander third placed showing saw her better her previous qualifying round performance of 13.78m.
More positive news coming out of the athletic camp yesterday was the progression of TT’s three quarter-milers, Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon and Renny Quow, into the Men’s 400m finals. Running out of lane one in semi-final three, Gordon was the fastest qualifier having won his event in 45.37 seconds. Semi-final one saw Solomon seal a finalist spot by finishing second fastest in 45.49. However, Quow and Bahamian Chris Brown (45.55) squeezed into the final as the fastest losers, with the former placing third in semi-final two in 45.47 and the latter, third in semi-final one.
The local trio will vie for Commonwealth glory in today’s 400m final, where they will go up against Olympic champ Kirani James (Grenada), Martyn Rooney (England), Wayde Van Niekerk (South Africa) and Bahamians Latoy Williams and Brown. Quow will be going for gold from lane two, Gordon lane three and Solomon lane seven.
Additionally, Tonya Nero finished 12th in the Women’s 10,000m final after clocking a season’s best time of 35 minutes 48.63 seconds. Winning this event was Joyce Chepkirui in a personal best time of 32:09.35.
In the Men’s 800m round one heats, local athletes Kendis Bullard and Jamaal James just missed out on advancing. Bullard (1:51.57) was sixth in heat two while James (1:51.62) crossed the line fourth in heat four.
In the Women’s 400m hurdles event, nationals Janeil Bellille and Josanne Lucas were unable to progress out their respective heats. In round one of heat one, Lucas was disqualified while Bellille finished fourth in 57.51.
And in the Men’s 110m hurdles round one heats, three of TT’s representatives did not advance to the next stage. Mikel Thomas (13.86s) placed fourth in heat one while Wayne Davis II and Durell Busby did not start in their respective heats due to injury.
Meanwhile, boxer Michael Alexander also inched closer to a coveted podium place when he moved on to the semi-final stage in the Men’s Lightweight (65 kilogram) division yesterday. Alexander traded blows with Bajan Cobia Breedy and emerged victorious on points (90-81). Also in boxing, Aaron Prince will return to the ring today to attempt a semi-final berth when he squares off against Vijender Vijender (India) in the Men’s Middleweight (75kg) quarter-final one.
The national table tennis outfit also showed worth on the opening day of Singles competition as Dexter St Louis, Curtis Humphreys and Rheann Chung all recorded double-wins in their respective Group match-ups, thus advancing to first round which serves off today.
The France-based St Louis opened his Group Three account positively by producing a strong 11- 4, 11-1, 11-3, 11-6 win over Kenyan Michael Owuor Otieno and then followed up with a tight come-from-behind 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 victory over Bajan Kevin Farley. Humphreys, in Group 22, also powered past Masoud Issa Mtalaso (Republic of Tanzania) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 and Seychelles’ Nicholas Esther 11-8, 11-3, 11-2, 11-8 while Chung, in Group Four of the women’s division, registered wins over Tuvalu Kaimalie Resture (11-3, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3) and Tanzanian Neema Dennis Mwaisyula (11-5, 11-4, 11-5, 11-2).
Youngster, Aaron Wilson showed up in his Men’s Singles Group 30 opener by beating Pakistani Tabish Kurshid 11-5, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9. His following match however, saw the promising player go down 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 to Welshman Daniel O’Connell.
Aleena Edwards shared similar scorelines after she defeated Jersey’s Kelsey Le Maistre 11-6, 7- 11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 but lost her second game 6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 to Bajan counterpart Krystle Harvey. Meanwhile, Ashley Quashie was eliminated from Group 8, losing 4- 0 to Ganiat Ogundele of Nigeria and 4-1 to Agnes Wiron Ngodoki of Tanzania.
Action continues today with the first rounds of Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles and second round Women’s Singles.
The national netball team lost their fourth consecutive match yesterday, going down 70-24 at the hands of the English. The local squad trailed significantly throughout all four quarters, starting with a ten-point deficit (15-5) at the end of the first period. Things got harder for the “Calypso Girls” as they entered half-time with the score at 27-12.
The third stanza saw the TT outfit add eight more to their tally, but this could not be compared to England’s 20-point haul in this segment (47-20). It was all over for the red, white and black at the final whistle. Joelisa Cooper top scored for TT scoring 13 of her 16 attempts while Joanne Harten netted 35 of her 43 tries.
The girls’ lone victory came in the opening match against Barbados (38-37) but lost the next four against South Africa (56-40), Wales (50-31), Australia (69-34) and England.
In the pool, George Bovell III missed out on medalling at the Commonwealth when he was fifth to touch the wall in the Men’s 50m freestyle finals. The Olympic medallist clocked 22.31 and finished behind English winner Benjamin Proud (21.92), Australians silver and bronze medallists, Cameron McEvoy (22.00) and James Magnussen (22.10) respectively. Yesterday’s result saw the completion of TT’s participants in swim events in Glasgow.
National squash players had a tough time in the Men, Women and Mixed Doubles events, going down in all four matches. The Men’s Doubles Pool D was contested by Colin Ramasra and Kale Wilson, who fell 11-3, 11-4 victim to Scotland’s Alan Clyne/ Harry Leitch. The women’s equivalent saw the pair of Charlotte Knaggs/ Kerrie Sample (11-6, 11-9) fail to get past the Welsh duo of Tesni Evans/ Deon Saffery. TT’s Mixed Doubles teams, Ramasra/ Sample then bowed out of their Pool F Mixed Doubles meeting 11-1, 11-4 against England’s Daryl Selby/ Sarah Kippax while Knaggs/ Wilson were eliminated 11-0, 11-2 by another English team, Peter Barker/ Alison Waters.
And in hockey, TT Men’s team recorded its first ever Commonwealth win by outclassing Malaysia 4-2 in their preliminary match. Three goals from Kwandane Browne in the first half and another from Mickell Pierre saw the red, white and black emerge victorious, with Malaysia finding the back of the net once in the second half.
The national outfit will however, not advance to the next round, having lost to England (6-1), New Zealand (8-0) and Canada (3-1) in their previous matches.