Guyana continued displaying a dominant performance in the second day of team competition in the 2011 Caribbean Areas Squash Association’s Digicel Junior Squash Championships.
Both the male and female teams recorded comprehensive victories without losing a single game on Tuesday. The boys took on the Bahamas and under 15 singles champion Nyron Joseph had the most challenging match of the day against Donovan Mc Donald. Joseph dropped one set but bounced back to win the match 11/5 11/5 7/11/11/6. Deje Dias, Jean-Claude Jeffrey, Jason-Ray Khalil and Patrick Fraser also recorded straight set victories to finish the day 5-0 ahead of the Bahamians.
The local boys also took on the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States at the Georgetown Club and recorded a 3-2 victory maintaining their winning composure. Jason Ray Khalil defeated Stephan Joseph, Nyron joseph beat Jason Doyle and Ben Mekdeci beat Samson Viville in straight sets.
Mary Fung-a-Fat, Kayla Jeffrey, Victoria Arjoon, Akeila Wiltshire and Lydia Alphonso all recorded victories when they competed against the Cayman Islands. The 5-0 victories firmly places Guyana in a dominant position to defend the overall title in this year’s competition.
Trinidad and Tobago also continued a good showing in the team category defeating the Cayman Islands and Barbados in the boys and girls categories respectively. The Twin Island republic however lost to Jamaica.
Despite the slush mud that saw many fans partying from the safety of the seawalls, Guyanese sure love them some Kes and teh Band. On Caricom evening into the next early morning hours thousands graced the Pegasus parking lot for some ‘wotles soca theraphy’ and they sure got their fill. From gong to gong the entertainment event promoted by AnSa McAl’s Carib Beer proved a multicultural delight with local acts such as Shelly G (one time soca Monarch) and Mahendra RamKellawan (reigning Road March King) and his dancers.
Shelly G was her ever raunchy self dishing songs such as ‘Touch Me here’ while Ramkellawan was a spicy hot showcase of chutney Guyanese style. Hut he obviously forced the sounds of his many popular chutney songs as was evident from the sometimes cracky sound of his voice declaring that even when he going to church ‘dem ah watche me’. But that was just the calm before the storm as Adesh Samaroo (TT chutney monarch 2004) proved his dominance as a professional chutney singer with quite a few samples of his hits such as ‘cyaan go fuh cane’, and ‘Rajin’ etc as well as ‘scorpian sting meh’. Then came time for the night’s feature act: Kes and the band! Many lost their inhebitions when the contagious sound of ‘Ah wotless’ signalled the ushering in of a dread locked soca sensation- Kes.
First came his dancers doing their thing. Then came Kes came on and expressed gratitude to Banks and was glad that he was performing in Guyana yet again in less than a year. The dude with dread locks who incidently is a sticker for education belted out hit after hit from his catalogue as well as several covers from the more popular artistes with his dancers providing energetic routines with each beat. But that was just teh beginning as teh Crow in VIP and General audience couldent care less that mud was under their feet or that teh plyboard set up could give way… thank goodness it didn’t. but Kes and his band proved that they are more than just soca singers as they moved from ‘Wine to the side’ to singing covers from Sean Paul and other Jamaican artistes. Another highlight of the evening was the conclusion of the ‘Carib Domination’ promotion. Five Carib patrons won fabulous prizes such as an ipod, a Flat plazma screen television,a motor scooter and the main prize of a new Toyota Allion.
Robert Calendar of Thomas Street, Kitty who bought his carib from Swet point was luckiest of teh lot while Meenamattie Ramlall won herself a motor scooter, Bridgelall Monilall won a laptop computer, Dorwin Holder won the LCD flatscreen television and Karen Rampersaud won herself an Apple iPod.Back to the Concert: Kes created a mad frenzy when he dished out covers from Ravi B, SuperCat whom he said was way before Sean paul, Machel Montano, and many other artistes.several ladies got a chance to show what Guyanese women are made of too and of course Kes used the song ‘tall thing short thing, I wining up on all thing, fat thing slim thing i wining up on everything…” But while the slim ones were most entertaining Kes sure got his Guyanese wine from a Buxsome Guyanese woman weighting more than 250lbs whom he hoisted unto his hips and she sure was an agile fan. But even before that, Kes aside from telling his fans that he wants to develop a relationship with his Guyanese fans, showed his love for GT people. After several calls from one female fan the superstar in the making jumped off the stage and to the barriers he went. There he got some reall Guyanese love as omen grabbed and pawed at his physique from every angle while others simply went crazy with screams of wild abandon from touching his dread locks.
The show was high energy from start to finish and wen he was done he had shed all the layers of his upper clothing. But it’s not over for Guyanese fans as the artiste is ready and willing to return to the local shores yet again once he is booked to perform. At the show’s conclusion there was hardly anyone with dry clothing exiting the venue and while most must have had quite a job of cleaning mud from their footwear they sure had a blast from Kes and teh Band compliments of Carib-the Beer of the Caribbean. Also in attendance were teh delegates of the Miss Guyana Universe who obviously had a blast.
The sun was setting on the 31st July, 1990, when the wail of a bouncing baby girl pierced the confines of the Woodlands Hospital in the capital city of Guyana. Prematurely born, this bubbly baby girl put a smile upon the face of Elton Jefford (late) and brought cheerfulness into the life of Erica Sobers. “I embody the traits of a positive, prudent and assiduous young woman who is determined to become one of society’s leading ladies and leave a legendary mark on the world,” she emphatically states. Reflecting humility Kiswana is resolute young woman, who endorses taking a stance for your beliefs and fulfilling your goals.
In Her words:
I embarked on my first educational journey at the South Ruimveldt Park Nursery School then South Ruimveldt Park Primary School where I sat the Secondary School Entrance Examinations (S.S.E.E). I subsequently completed my secondary level of learning at St. Stanislaus College and North Georgetown Secondary School where I amassed 13 (thirteen) subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council Examination (C.S.E.C) Thus obtaining the Student of Excellency Award. Throughout the different levels of my education I participated in various extracurricular activities, mainly debating, reading, spelling b and track and field competitions. With leadership qualities, and an outspoken yet agreeable and cool disposition I was elected school prefect by my peers and school teachers. Motivated by my love for intellectual enhancement and elevation I am currently a second year International Relations student of the University of Guyana. However, upon its conclusion it is my objective to continue my journey academically by studying Law. Hence, taking me one step closer of accomplishing my career objective-a Criminal Attorney-at-Law.
When I am not working as an Administrative Assistant at Hughes, Fields and Stoby or studying, I embrace leisure in being an activist for environmental preservation and tourism education, reading, surfing the internet and dancing; I have a passion for the art form of dance and is presently a member of Classique Dance Company. My past times also expand to include hanging out with family and friends and spending quality time with elderly folks, orphans and/or children faced with adversities. An exemplification of eloquence, radiance and charisma I also epitomize the “girly-girl” who adores fashion and embraces a fanatical interest in pageantry. The latter of which prompted me to enter the 2009 Miss Guyana Talented Teen pageant where I placed third and secured the Miss Body Beautiful prize. My next pageant was the Miss Guyana Earth 2010 pageant of which I am the reigning queen and also attained the Queen of the Catwalk prize and Miss Body Beautiful once more. I then journeyed to St. Martin last year as Guyana’s Representative in the Miss Caraibes Hibiscus 2010 pageant and will be Guyana’s Beauty Ambassador at Miss Earth International 2011 in China. I recently participated in the Miss Guyana Jamzone 2011 pageant where I placed third and secure the Miss Body Beautiful title again.
I admire Nelson Mandela and the women of today, primarily Oprah Winfrey and Desiree Bernard, who are my role models. I believe the individual I am today is attributable to the morals my parents imbued in me whilst growing up, a sound educational background and everything I’ve experienced from childhood to date. Five years from now I envisage myself as having established my own charitable organization, having completed a Bachelors degree in International Relations and striving to procure a Degree in Law, a professional Dancer and Guyana’s representative at the prestigious Miss Universe and/or Miss World pageants. This is me, Kiswana Abimola Jefford-A spirited dancer, an aspiring lawyer, a role model, a patriot, a Guyanese…
This year’s pageant will be staged in two parts for the first time…The Swimsuit Competition is scheduled for St Kitts on Saturday July 23, 2011 at Carnival Village while the other segments – talent, evening gown, interview and crowning will be held in Nevis on Monday July 25.
New Amsterdam Technical Institute(NATI) dominate Stewartville Secondary to secure semifinal spot
Left to right; Devon James, Whitney Larose, Leroy James and Alaska Burnett
With the respective regional champions crowned in all ten administrative regions the time has come for the top schools to find out who will lift the national championship trophy in the Digicel Schools Football Championships 2011.
The quarterfinals to determine the national champs kicked off at various venues across the country on Wednesday July 13 and from the results it was clear that young talented players are emerging. The most exciting and electrifying match of the day was however played at the Den Amstel ground which saw Region 6 champions New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) coming up against their Region 3 counterparts Stewartville Secondary School. Stewartville had the advantage of a large supportive home crowd but that did not stop the Berbicians from inflicting a 8-2 thrashing on them. Devon James was the most efficient striker for NATI after striking first in the 16th minute. He finished the game with a hat-trick, his other goals being scored in the 25th and 76th minutes respectively. Whitney La Rose and Leroy James scored two goals apiece and Alaska Burnett also contributed one goal to the final tally.
Action in the Bygeval vs. GTI clash. GTI scored 3 Bygeval 2
Stewartville was a physically smaller side and played a more cautious and defensive game. Those gathered did not expect their team to be beaten so severely but they were nonetheless appreciative for the plethora of goals scored and cheered when the ball hit the net for either side. The two goals for Stewartville were scored by Steffon Griffith in the 64th off a penalty and Alonzo Bowman in the 69th. The game was not short of drama either. In the 85th minute the goalie for Stewartville, Richard Croft was sent off for attempting to elbow a NATI striker after he had already secured the ball. This caused an uproar in the crowd and officials had to calm down players and spectators in order to restore order. The game however ended without further incident.
In the other results of the day Linden edged Port Kaituma 1-0, Government Technical Institute beat Bigeval Secondary 3-2 and Wamaradong Secondary overcame Charity Secondary 5-1.
The Digicel Caribbean Junior Squash Championships Team Competition served off on Monday, July 9th with the singles and team matches being played at the National Racquet Centre and the Georgetown Club respectively. After dominant performances in the singles stage, Guyana seemed to transfer the gained momentum and confidence to the team matches when they played against Bermuda.
Newly crowned Under – 15 singles champion, Nyron Joseph, demonstrated that he deserves that title when defeated Kion Knights in straight sets – 12/10 ,11/6 and 11/4. Jason Ray Khalil also won his match against D’Vario Thompson, but had to dig deep since his competitor did not make the encounter a walkover. Khalil had a gruelling 5 sets to defeat Thompson but endured to win – 16/18, 11/6, 5/11, 11/9 and 11/5. Ben Mekdeci also overcame Dylan Pratt to give the boys a 3-2 victory in the first round of the team championships. Ashley Khalil dominated Alyssa Brewer in the first match of the female category. Victoria Arjune and Larissa Wiltshire also recorded victories, while Mary Fung-a-Fat completed the 4-I first stage win after her competitor failed to turn up giving her a walkover.
The team from Trinidad and Tobago has two male teams in this year’s championships, and judging from their impressive performances – winning straight sets against Jamaica, Barbados and The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States – seems to be the one which Guyana will need to pay keen attention to.
Finally, it should be noted that the conditions and courts favour the locals since their counterparts are accustomed to playing on air conditioned courts. The heat has been a major factor in the championships thus far, but being the best junior team in the Caribbean for a number of years in addition to the early victories attained in the singles category will serve as a confidence booster to the Guyanese representatives.Play resumes on Tuesday July 11 through Thursday July 14.
LTI students and coach with Director of Sport Neil Kumar and Digicel Sponsorship Manager Gavin Hope
Linden Technical Institute (LTI) showed why they made it to the final round of the Youth Basketball Guyana/ National Sports Commission’s; National Schools Basketball Festival 2011. The team from the mining town showed their dominance early into the first half by going on a 12-3 run against New Amsterdam Multilateral (NA Multi) out of the Ancient County. Though there were some spirited attempts on the part of the Berbice representatives, the Lindeners played a tough defensive game to come out on top. LTI out rebounded NA Multi on the defensive boards and even executed several steals to maintain majority ball possession in what seemed like a one sided affair by halftime. In the second half the Lindeners seemed to be shooting the basketball at will as they grabbed several offensive boards resulting in second, third and even forth shot opportunities. Geoffrey LaRose won over the crowd with his heroics on his way to a top score of 28 and 13 rebounds in favor of the Region 10 team. In the end the scoreboard read 73-35, a 38 point margin of victory for LTI. The Champions of Champions trophy was sponsored by strong supporters of local basketball; Haynes Foundation and made by the Port Morant Technical Institute.
Meanwhile Director of Sports Neil Kumar congratulated the winning teams on their performance throughout the tournament and moreso during the finals. He also recognized the importance of the Basketball Festival in unlocking talent of youths at the regional level through the schools. Kumar also expressed confidence that the talent witnessed throughout the competition will benefit the national team in the end since “these kids will perform and take Guyana far”.
Kumar encouraged the students to continue playing basketball since in the near future one night a week will be set aside to have basketball played in the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall televised on a monthly basis much like the highly successful Friday Night Fights. Plans are also on stream to have the annual festival evolve into a Caribbean tournament in order to provide much needed regional exposure to players at a earlier age.
Despite their loss to LTI, NA Multi secured the Division 2 title after edging city side Guyana Education Trust College 45-43 earlier in the evening.
Over 50 school teams participated in the festival which ran for six weeks at venues across the country.
Head of Digicel Guyana Gregory Dean believes that the Schools Football Championships sponsored by his company augers well for the sport locally and in effect will only lead to a higher level of football at the national level.
Dean was present at the Region 4 finals at the Carifesta Sports Club ground between Charlestown Secondary and Government Technical Institute (GTI) on Saturday.
The CEO added that because of the exposure given to players at the school level “in one way it may make the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) job a bit harder in terms of picking available players but in the end it will benefit the country as a whole in terms of quality representation”.
He however said such development would not happen over night but views the competition as a step in the right direction in addition to other developmental programmes.
Meanwhile in the day’s action an aggressive and confident GTI overcame a resilliant Charlestown Secondary.
Darren Fraser scored the first goal of the encounter in the 13th minute in favour of GTI. After the early breakthrough a relentless attack was launched on Charlestown’s goal.
The attack took its toll on the defense and could be seen clearly in the 39th minute when Dennis Fung scored an own goal to seal the victory for GTI.
The winners now await the rest of the regional finals to conclude to find out who they will be up against when vying for the national title.
From all indications officials believe the city side will have a tough battle ahead since several regional teams have shown significant skill.
Miss Jamzone Guyana 2011, Jovan Wilson has been crowned and congratulated, but the journey has only just begun. Training has intensified ten fold to ensure that our local representative is prepared for the upcoming Miss Jamzone International 2011, where she will meet and compete against a capable assembly of delegates from across the Caribbean region!
The lineup this year has been extended to a whopping eleven delegates in comparison to the subsequent eight, due to the overwhelming feedback we have received from a multitude of countries from around the world. It is obvious that our pageant has attained a national reach since multiple applications were sent from countries including the USA, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia and even Canada as all pageants go everyone couldn’t make the cut. However, the committee is quite confident in the selected group of incredibly skilled, competent young women who are sure to make this year’s pageant an unforgettable event.
The lineup includes several University students, a News reporter and News Anchor all of whom are well versed in pageantry with very impressive portfolios. Our delegates hail from Dominica, Jamaica, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, Suriname, St Kitts and Nevis, Brazil and of course, Guyana. These young ladies will compete in the intelligence, swimsuit, fantasy, beach wear, evening gown and cultural presentation segments for an astounding reward of USD$10,000 in cash, a dazzling crown and rights to the throne!
The Miss Jamzone International Pageant in its second year of existence features as part of the Jamzone Summer Break Weekend, an annual calendar in Guyana. This year Jamzone will feature ten days of fun-packed activities inclusive of jazz and food festivals, sports tournaments and several Super Concerts featuring some of the biggest local, Caribbean and International acts.
History in the making! Jamzone Regional Night presents- Mavado and Vybz Kartel one Stage! One night!
Mavado performing at Jamzone Regional Night 2010
Just when millions of fans around the world thought it would never happen again, after tireless months of negotiations between Conscious Minds, Hits & Jams, Vybz Kartel & Mavado, the Hits and Jams Team has achieved what no other country could by confirming Jamaican Dancehall Superstars, Vybz Kartel and Mavado to perform on the same stage for the Jamzone Summer Break 2011 ‘Regional Night’!
When the Hits and Jams Team announced that they would be pursuing greater endeavors for this year’s Jamzone Summer Break events, no one would have predicted that they would eventually attain what seemed an almost impossible feat. We can safely say that the Jamzone Regional Night is covered with these two headlining acts who will be accompanied by Guyanese Dancehall Star, Jory. This event will mark the second time in history the two have ever performed together, prior to their 2009 ‘peace concert’ performance at the West Kingston Jamboree stage show in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston.
Vybz Kartel (Picture taken from urbanislandz.com)
The team released the news last Friday July 1 at 11:50pm via the social networking tycoons Facebook and Twitter immediately after the deal was sealed. Swarms of comments crowded the page within minutes from fans who expressed absolute excitement while some were in utter disbelief. By the following day the news had spread like wild-fire via BBM, text messages, social networking and even plain old gossip! Anyone with an ear or a cell phone knew that Vybz Kartel and Movado were heading to Guyana for Jamzone. The thousands of Vybz Kartel and Mavado fans in Guyana will witness this historic ‘Dancehall experience’ as the duo plans to put on a show unlike any other. The artistes are gearing up to dish out some epic performances which will be no feat since they are both known for their dynamic music and power-packed stage performances! Guyanese artiste Jory will also be there to set the vibes for the night!
Hits and Jams Entertainment has undoubtedly revolutionized the levels of entertainment offered in Guyana by epitomizing the concepts of quality from International events and embarking on consistent ventures through creative promotional techniques. In its 11th year Jamzone Summer Break intends to raise the bar to unsurpassable levels by offering an extended array of activities inclusive of incredible Super concerts featuring some of the biggest names worldwide.
On Saturday July 2 the Mining Town, Linden will get the first taste of the newly introduced Fastball game as the tournament kicks off at Mackenzie Sports Ground. The action starts at 15:00hrs with several thrilling matches during which fans who wear the Fastball official T-Shirt will be eligible to win over one million dollars and many other great prizes!
When the Fastball excitement ends the party begins with mind-blowing performances by chart-topping Jamaican Dancehall singer Konshens and Guyanese megastar Jory. Earlier this year, Cricket enthusiasts were treated to a successful 10/10 tournament however, this time around, GTT is offering Football lovers a chance to be a part of this new, fun exciting game which will definitely change the way we play local football! Each match lasts a period of 30 minutes and several other changes have been altered to the original format to create Fastball.
Tickets are available for $500 at all GTT Offices and the Major Sports Center in the Leap Building. Patrons can also grab their official ‘Fastball’ T-shirts for $1000 for a chance to win fantastic prizes!
