Bajan Hurdler cops silver behind Jamaica’s Broadbell

The Caribbean took gold and silver in the Men’s 110m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, today.

Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell ran a personal best 13.08 to equal the Commonwealth Games record set by Colin Jackson in 1990, and won gold ahead of Barbados’ Shane Brathwaite (13.30) and England’s Andrew Pozzi (13.37). Olympic champion Hansle Parchment was scheduled to run out of lane three but didn’t turn up for the final.

Brathwaite, the seven-time national champion ran out of lane one, while Broadbell was in lane six and Pozzi in lane 8. Another Jamaican, former junior world silver medallist at the distance, Orlando Bennett, ran out of lane five. Broadbell got off to an excellent start and led from start to finish. Brathwaite appeared not to have the smoothest of starts but was ahead of the rest of the pack quickly with Broadbell comfortably in front and Pozzi following closely behind. Broadbell had been the fastest qualifier going into the final with a time of 13.16. Brathwaite, who hit the third hurdle, ran a time that was his best for the season.

In the 400m hurdles, Jamaicans Janieve Russell, Shiann Salmon and Rushell Clayton all advanced to the final. Salmon and Russell ran times of 55.30 and 55.79, respectively, for first and second in semi-final one while Clayton took the second semi-final in 54.93.

Bahamian long jumper Laquan Nairn struck gold in the Men’s long jump with a distance of 8.08m, the same distance as Indian silver medallist Sreeshankar Sreeshankar while South Africa’s Jovan Van Vuuren finished third with 8.06m. Jamaica’s Shawn-D Thompson narrowly missed out on bronze after achieving 8.05m for fourth.

 

 

Jamaica’s Traves Smikle threw 64.58m for bronze in the Men’s discus throw behind Australia’s Matthew Denny (67.26m) and England’s Lawrence Okoye (64.99m).

Meanwhile, unbeaten Jamaica edged World number one Australia in a nail-biter to finish with the top spot in Pool A and continue their intriguing quest for a first-ever Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Entering the contest at NEC arena on the back of a four-game winning streak, the Sunshine Girls displayed excellent tenacity in producing a final quarter surge to come away with a narrow 57-55 victory.

In fact, Jamaica trailed at every quarter before out-scoring the Aussies 17-9 in the last stanza, to overturn a 46-40 deficit at the end of the third quarter.

“At that stage in the later part of the game when we surged forward, they were determined to keep the lead because that is what we have been practising and that is what they wanted,” said Jamaica’s head coach Connie Francis.

“They wanted this victory more than anything else,” she added.

Jamaica were propelled by the ever-outstanding goal-shooter Jhaniele Fowler who poured in 47 goals from 50 attempts, her efforts proving especially significant in the final quarter when she was a perfect 14-from-14.

Goal attack Shanice Beckford executed a critical supporting role, scoring ten-from-ten. For Australia, Gretel Bueta led with 36 goals from 39 attempts with Steph Wood chipping in with 19 from 22.

“Any loss hurts but this is the part where this group is really resilient. We’re always focused on how we can improve,” said Aussie head coach Stacey Marinkovich.

“They will walk away from this understanding we can play good netball and we can be successful. But you have to do that in four quarters. To let it slip away – they will learn from it.”

The first quarter was a close affair, Jamaica trailing 14-13 at the end of it, and another attritional affair in the second quarter saw the Aussies come away with a 30-29 half-time lead.

However, Jamaica were only second best in the third quarter, out-scored 16-11 before staging an amazing comeback through Fowler, who plays professionally in Australia for the Perth-based West Coast Fever. Jamaica will now face either England or New Zealand in Saturday’s semi-finals for a place in Sunday’s final.

Also in Pool A, Barbados turned in perhaps their best showing of the campaign but it was still not enough to break their losing streak, as they crashed to a 60-44 defeat to Wales.

They were down 34-23 at the half and showed plenty of grit in the second half to keep the quarters closely contested.

Shonica Wharton scored 21 from 27 attempts to lead the Barbadians while Latonia Blackman shot a perfect 19-from-19. Barbados finished bottom of the group. Wales, meanwhile, were inspired by Betsy Creak’s 30 from 33 with support coming from Georgia Rowe with 21 goals from 24 attempts.

In Pool B, Trinidad and Tobago also remained winless with a 41-32 defeat at the hands of Northern Ireland, ending bottom of the table.

Despite her side’s woes, Afeisha Noel enjoyed a decent outing with 18 goals from as many attempts. (CMC/SportsMax/WG)