Sports

Prime Minister: Maintaining Fitness Critical For Top Athletes

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is encouraging sportsmen and women to pay greater attention to maintaining their fitness levels if they are to be at the top of their chosen sporting discipline.

She made this call yesterday during the launch of the Prime Minister’s Cup Football Tournament at the Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) headquarters at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex, Wildey, St. Michael.

Ms. Mottley stressed that there needs to be a change in the approach by those who play sports in this country so that they can maintain good fitness and wellness.

“And that has to change in Barbados, and we need community by community … to be able to [achieve this] …. Mac [Fingall], I am appealing to you because you have spent your life teaching and he was the first one to tell me, as a young Minister of Education, that we must talk with, and not talk to, or at [people].

“We need to talk with our young people from ages seven, eight, nine, 10 and 11 and even the ones who are teenagers now and to explain to them, why their diet…their fitness… and the things that undermine fitness, like alcohol and smoking, will not help them if they intend to be a serious athlete,” the Prime Minister insisted.

Ms. Mottley continued: “That does not mean that when you are in the off-season that you cannot have a drink ‘here and there’, but the reality is that you and I both know that once that becomes too much, what happens to the body.

“It starts to underperform and therefore, the very thing that you want, which is an opportunity, who is the denying it? not a stranger…but yourself. That has to be the message that goes out there.”

The Prime Minister stressed that if the tournament achieved nothing else, she is hopeful that it would result in a change in the ecosystem “surrounding” how sporting individuals sustain themselves and make themselves capable of being the best that they can be as they proceed to higher levels in sports.

“This issue of wellness is a habit and it has to stay with you for life. Those who inculcate that habit from an early stage, have a better chance of sustaining [themselves]…. We have to understand that this is an individual choice, but if we don’t expose our children to it…if we don’t value it, if we don’t hold on to it, we are going to find that this thing is going to have diminishing returns…. Lung capacity matters and balance matters and I want that message to go through to our youngsters as we go forward,” Ms. Mottley underlined.

The structured semi-professional tournament will run for 14 weeks, starting on Sunday, August 25, and ending on Independence Day, Saturday, November 30.

There will be 89 matches played by 24 teams in communities across Barbados vying for the top prize of $100,000 and other prizes. Under this format, players and management will be paid for each game.

There were also addresses by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, and President of the BFA, Randolph Harris, while the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Omari Eastmond, gave an overview of the competition. (PR/GIS)

CAPTION: Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley speaking at thel aunch of the Prime Minister’s Cup Football Tournament at the Barbados Football Association’s headquarters at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex today. Looking on is Chairman of the tournament’s Organising Committee, Omari Eastmond.

Sports

BARBADOS WINS CWI RISING STARS UNDER-19 CHAMPIONSHIP

by David Harris

Defending champions Barbados defeated Guyana by 44 runs to retain their title in Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Under-19 Championship at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua on Wednesday.

Needing to avoid defeat in their fifth and final match of the tournament to clinch the title, the Barbadian lads scored 209 for eight wickets, before bowling out Guyana for 160 in 45.3 overs.

Barbados were wobbling at 71 for four wickets, after winning the toss and opting to bat. Captain Justin Parris made an attractive 38 runs from 40 balls, the left-handed batsman struck five fours, but his dismissal in the sixteenth over left Barbados in a precarious position. Seth Smith (47) and Rajeev Parsooram (21) repaired the early damage with a crucial fifth-wicket partnership of 61 runs, before Parsooram was dismissed by left-arm pacer Brandon Henry.

After Parsooram’s wicket fell; Smith added 40 vital runs for the sixth wicket with Yuvraj Persaud who made 19, Smith’s rearguard inning ended innings ended when he was dismissed by Henry in the 43rd over, the wicketkeeper/ batsman faced 75 balls and counted four boundaries. Asher Brandford 18 and Zarell Harding 15 not out ensured that Barbados posted a total over 200 runs.

Medium pacer Reyaz Laif took three wickets for 34 runs, he was supported by fast bowler Usain Fredericks two wickets for 53 runs,, and Henry who picked up two wickets for 24 runs.

Chasing 210 for victory, Guyana slumped to 55 for five wickets in the 17^th over as the Bajan bowlers took early wickets; but a defiant knock of 50 runs from Henry briefly give the Guyanese hope. Henry faced 88 balls and lead a lower resistance that saw Guyana to 156 for eight wickets before he was bowled by Parsooram. After Henry was dismissed Guyana’s innings ended quickly.

Brandford captured three wickets for 19 runs with his medium pace; he was supported by fellow medium pacers Joshua Thomas and Parsooram with two wickets for 35 runs and 19 runs respectively, while Parris picked up two wickets with his leg-spin.

Sports

JAYDEN WINS GOLD AT CARIFTA GAMES

by David Harris

Jayden Green captured Barbados’ lone gold medal at the 52nd CARIFTA Games which ended at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, in Mucrapo, Trinidad on Monday night. The 17-year-old student of the Christ Church Foundation School won the Under-20 Boys’ 200 metres at the three -day track and field meeting in 20,93 seconds ahead of Jamaicans Tyreece Foreman (20.95) and Junior Galimore (21.01); Green is the first Barbadian to win the event since Mario Burke in 2015.

The rest of team collected five silver and eight bronze medals with several athletes recording personal best. Barbados won 14 medals at the games, their best performance since the 2016 Games in Grenada where they won 20 medals.

Sports

GET READY FOR THE NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES

Calendar lists all the events from May to September 2025

NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES field events will begin on Saturday, May 31, at Queen’s College, Husbands, St. James, while the road races, involving running, cycling, walking, and skating, will take place on Sunday, June 1, on the Mighty Grynner Highway. Monday, June 9, will see the culmination of the track events at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.