Jamaica mines Gold and Silver at 2010 Commonwealth

Jamaica mines Gold and Silver at 2010 Commonwealth
Ocober 8, 2010

Lerone Clarke and Dorian Scott highlighted Day Four action for Jamaica at the 2010 Commonwealth Games here in Delhi, India - the pair winning gold and silver, respectively, at the JLN Stadium to open the country's account at the games.


The double swoop pushed Jamaica's overall Commonwealth Games haul to 109, with this being the 19th renewal of the multi-discipline championships.

In what can be best described as an up-and-down day for the Jamaicans, Clarke, who ran a leg in the 4x100m heats at last year's IAAF World Championships in Athletics for Jamaica's gold medal-winning team, powered to 10.12 seconds to claim his first major individual title.

Scott returned a similar result to the one he achieved four years ago at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, winning silver in the men's shot put with a best throw of 20.17m.

Jamaica's lone male 400m entrant, Oral Thompson, won his heat in 46.60 seconds and will feature in today's semi-finals at 7:35 a.m. Jamaica time.

Boxers impressive

Meanwhile, the boxers continue to impress with light welterweight Philip Bowes battering his Malaysian opponent Khir Akyazcan with a 5-1 decision at the Talkatora Stadium late in the evening session.

Squash player Bruce Burrowes had a particularly good day, winning all his matches in the consolation plate section. Burrowes edged St Vincent and the Grenadines' Othniel Bailey by three sets to two (6-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3) in the quarter-finals of the consolation plate and will now play in today's semi-final before bettering Bailey's countryman James Bentick 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5) to secure a place in the final of the men's singles consolation plate. The match is scheduled to start at 2:30 a.m. today.

However, it wasn't all great news for the Jamaicans, as one of the country's brightest medal prospects, the Sunshine Girls, suffered a heavy 13-point loss to world champions Australia in their preliminary-round clash at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex, losing 60-47. The result means that they will most likely have to go through New Zealand if they are to get a chance of winning gold or silver.

A win would have paired the girls with an England team that they would have been far more confident of beating.

There was also bad news for Jamaica on the track, as Davita Prendergast and Dominique Blake both failed to get to the final of the women's 400m after finishing seventh and sixth, respectively. Prendergast posted 55.09 seconds while Blake, who got off to a good start, faded midway the race to register a time of 54.34 seconds.

Natalie Grant finished ninth in the women's hammer throw final but would have been pleased with her season-best throw of 60.26m.

Tanice Barnett, 4:48.59, was last in her 1500m heats, while Twishanna Williams ran a personal best 4:36.60 for ninth place in her heat. They both failed to progress.

At the Dr SPM Aquatics Complex, Alia Atkinson finished one second short of a qualifying spot to the finals of the women's 100m breaststroke after picking up a fifth-place finish in the semi-finals in 1:11.28; the eleventh-fastest time in qualifying. Atkinson had earlier secured her semi-final quali-fication with a 1:11.47 timing in her heat.

Alexia Royal-Eatmon finished in last place in the semi-finals of the 50m backstroke in 31.41 seconds.