Birmingham, England – Success has proven challenging to come by for Jamaica on Friday’s opening day of competition at the 22nd Commonwealth Games here.
The Sunshine Girls netball team was the exception, scoring a comprehensive 72-43 victory over Wales inside the National Exhibition Centre (NAEC).
After seven participants made their splash in the swimming pool at Sandwell Aquatic Centre, none could advance to the next stage.
Sidrell Williams finished eighth in 25.32 seconds in heat five of the men’s 50m butterfly and Mackenzie Headley was seventh in 33.85 seconds in heat three of the women’s 50m breaststroke.
Keanan Dols won heat two of the men’s 100m backstroke in 57.80 seconds and compatriot Nathaniel Thomas finished fourth in the same event in 1:00.27 minutes, but none qualified for the next stage and they finished 22nd and 28th, respectively, overall.
Zaneta Alvaranga was third in heat two of the women’s 100m butterfly in 1:03.02 minutes but failed to advance after being placed 26th overall.
Kelsi Leigh Campbell was eighth in heat five of the same event in 1:04.32 minutes and was placed 27th overall.
And Kito Campbell suffered similar heartbreak when he finished seventh in 2:29.95 minutes in the men’s 200m breaststroke in heat two. He ended 17th overall.
On Saturday at 11:01 am (6:01 am EST), Headley and Kelsie Campbell will contest the heat eight of the women’s 50m freestyle, with both entering with the slowest times.
Alvaranga swims in heat nine with the slowest time at 11:03 am (6:03 am EST), then at 11:07 am (6:07 am EST) Kito Campbell contests heat two of the men’s 100m breaststroke, in which he enters with the fastest time.
Meanwhile, the Republic of South Africa edged Jamaica 3-2 in the badminton mixed team event group play stage (Group D) at the National Exhibition Centre Hall Five.
The South African’s Jarred Elliott and Deidre Jordaan defeated Joel Angus and Katherine Wynter 2-0 in mixed doubles.
Samuel Ricketts drew Jamaica level when he beat Caden Kakora 2-0 in men’s singles, only for the victors to regain the lead in the women’s singles when Johanita Scholtz stopped Tahlia Richardson 2-0.
But Angus and Ricketts turned the tables in men’s doubles when they beat Elliott and Robert Summers 2-0. However, in the deciding women’s doubles, the Republic of South Africa sealed the deal with Jordaan and Scholtz beating Richardson and Wynter 2-0.
In their second game of the day, the Jamaicans were spanked 5-0 by Asian powerhouse Malaysia.
They were beaten by 2-0 scorelines in the mixed doubles, men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles.
Jamaica will now turn its attention to Zambia when it continues group play on Court three at 2:00 pm (9:00 am EST).
Zoe Boyd, Malik Reid and Daniel Palmer finished seventh and last in the men’’ team sprint at Lee Valley VeloPark.
The trio had a time of 49.845 seconds at an average speed of 54.168mph, well below the 63.948mph achieved in a games record 42.222 seconds by Australia.
Dahlia Palmer will be Jamaica’s lone representative in the women’s sprint qualifying at 10:02 am (5:02 am EST).
At Victoria Park, Robert Simpson and Mervyn Edwards defeated Norfolk Island’s John Christian and Tim Sheridan 17-16 in round one of Section A of men’s pairs.
However, they were no match for Namibia in the second match as they went down 4-33.
The team returns to rink 11 on Saturday to face Wales at 3:00 pm (10:00 am EST).
In rugby sevens men’s Pool D play, the powerful Australians annihilated Jamaica 62-0 in a totally one-sided contest at Coventry Stadium.
The victors led 33-0 at the half-time break.
In their second game of the day, they feared no better, going down 45-0 to Kenya, who led 24-0 at the break.
Jamaica will close out group play against Uganda at 9:00 am (4:00 am EST) on Saturday.
There were mixed results for Jamaica in squash as Chris Binnie beat Ghana’s Evans Ayih 3-0 in men’s singles round of 64 play on Court Three at the University of Birmingham Hockey and Squash Centre. Binnie had things his own way in an 11-1, 11-1, 11-3 breeze.
However, in the second game, Julian Morrison lost 0-3 to Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal, who had scores of 11-5, 11-4 and 11-3.
At 12:30 pm (7:30 am EST) Binnie will contest the round of 32 game against India’s Ramit Tandon on Court Three.
In men’s artistic gymnastics at Arena Birmingham, Michael Reid could fare no better than 32nd on the pommel horse in the men’s team final and individual qualification in subdivision two.
He tallied 11.050 points (5.400 for difficulty and 5.650 for execution).
On the parallel bars the German-born did slightly better to finish with 13.350 points, 5.500 for difficulty and 7.850 for execution.
On Saturday, Danyella Richards will contest the women’s team final and individual qualification on subdivision one.
The 17-year-old will participate in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
At the Sutton Park, Phillip McCatty finished 37th of 45 competitors in the men’s individual (sprint distance) final in 1:06.43 hours, broken down as follows: 12.35 minutes for the swim; 1.12 minutes for the first transition; 32.53 minutes for the bike; 0.25 minutes for the second transition and 19.38 minutes for the run, 16.09 minutes behind the winner, Alex Yee of England.
Weightlifter Sky Simone-Lea Norris will bow into action on Saturday when she contests the women’s 55kg – final at 8:00 pm (3:00 pm EST) inside the NEC Hall One.
