Caribbean Sports In Brief

Jamaican-born triple Olympian Usain Bolt is among the contenders again for this year’s Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.

Compiled By NAN Sports Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 13, 2017: Here are some of the major stories making headlines in Caribbean sports scene this week:

Jamaican-born triple Olympian Usain Bolt is among the contenders again for this year’s Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. The winners, as voted for by members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be revealed in Monaco on February 14. Bolt, already a three-time Laureus winner, faces competition this year from 5k and 10k Olympic champion Mo Farah, basketball duo Stephen Curry and LeBron James, besides Bolt, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and tennis star Andy Murray, following a ballot by the world’s media.

Cricket

Former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams is the new director of cricket at the West Indies Cricket Board. Adams, who turned 49 on Monday, replaces Richard Pybus, who opted to not renew his contract having served in the role for three years. On Tuesday, the WICB announced Adams’ appointment stating his contract was for three years. The announcement comes as the Board also named Englishman Johnny Grave as its new chief executive officer from February in the hope of expanding its commercial footprint, improve its management, and develop a better relationship with Windies cricket players. Grave replaces Michael Muirhead in the post, following the Jamaican’s decision to step down last October

Soccer

Copa Centroamericana opens in Panama today. Honduras takes on Nicaragua at 4 p.m. at the Rommel Fernandez stadium while Costa Rica faces El Salvador at 6:30 p.m. Host’s Panama will face Belize at 9 p.m. See the schedule for the week matches here.

This comes as Jamaica Reggae Boyz head coach Theodore Whitmore named Monday a 23-player squad for a three-day minicamp in preparation for the February 3rd international friendlies and Honduras (February 16th).

The squad, consists entirely of players from the domestic Red Stripe Premier League

ROSTER

GOALKEEPERS: Jacomeno Barrett (Montego Bay United), Nico Campbell (Marverly Hughenden) Shaven Sean-Paul (Portmore United)

DEFENDERS: Romaine Brackenridge (Tivoli Gardens), Rosario Harriott (Harbour View), Roberto Johnson (Portmore United), Kareem Manning (Portmore United), Ladale Richie (Montego Bay United), Damano Solomon (Portmore United), Dicoy Williams (Arnett Gardens)

MIDFIELDERS: Dwayne Ambursley (Montego Bay United), Ewan Grandison (Portmore United), Jamiel Hardware (Boys’ Town), Rodave Murray (Waterhouse) Rohan Richards (Jamalco), Jamie Robinson (University of the West Indies FC), Tevin Shaw (Tivoli Gardens), Andrew Vanzie (Humble Lion FC)

FORWARDS: Javon East (Portmore United)Owayne Gordon (Montego Bay United), Shamar Nicholson (Boys’ Town), Allan Ottey (Montego Bay United), Dino Williams (Montego Bay United)

Over at Haiti’s Les Grenadiers soccer squad, new manager Jean-Claude Josaphat, is happy and proud that the country has an opportunity to make a seventh trip to the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Haiti (2W-0D-0L, 6 points) remained alive for a place in this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup thanks to earning a 4-3 win after extra time over host Trinidad & Tobago (0-0-2, 0) on Sunday at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Trinidad.  The victory gave the Haitians the top spot in the 2016/17 Scotiabank CFU Men’s Caribbean Cup fifth-place playoff, setting up a two-game series against the fifth-place side in the Copa Centroamericana, which opens today in Panama City.

NFL

Haitian roots player, Jason Pierre-Paul, wants to return to the Giants, but he is done with the one-year deals and the franchise tag. Pierre-Paul said this week he is looking for a multi-year, big money contract. Pierre-Paul, despite playing with 7.5 fingers after losing 2.5 in a fireworks accident, went out and registered seven sacks in 12 games this season.  “I’ve done proved it,” Pierre-Paul said on NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. “There’s not a guy like me doing it with 7.5 fingers.”

Meanwhile, Haitian-roots Washington Redskins wide Receiver Pierre Garçon has given his mom a new home and a car.  Garçon posted a photo recently on his Instagram account of his mother, Marie Nicolas, smiling next to a new car, as he reveals in his caption that he had purchased her both a new vehicle and home this week.

“Bought my mama a crib and a brand new wagon. Now she hit the grocery store looking lavish,” he captioned. Garcon was born in New York to Haitian immigrant parents from Leogene, Haiti, a town near Port-Au-Prince.