FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gros Islet, St Lucia, 29 July 2017

The St Lucia Stars had the most successfully season last year, and much of that was as a result of Johnson Charles’s impressive season with the bat.

“2016 was a big year and 2017 is definitely going to have more hype and I am looking forward to doing my thing. I am definitely excited and you know the excitement is immeasurable.” Johnson said as we count down the days to the opening match at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground,” Charles said.

When asked about what is required for the Stars to go all the way this year Charles was confident.

“All we have to do now is maintain and improve on our performances. It is going to take a lot of work because all teams are coming after us. It is a hard competition. So, we just have to maintain and give our all.”

Charles is full of belief in his team and his own abilities.

“Last year I was number two in the run scoring charts. So, this year I am just looking to start at number two and get up there to number one. It will take a lot of hard work because every batsman is coming out there to perform and get the most runs.”

Speaking about the development Hero CPL and the changes players faced in the opening years, Charles said: “When we started in the first year you could have seen that guys were not really into T20 and did not really know much about the game, but as it progressed you could see everybody getting a lot better in their games and game planning.

“Hero CPL has pushed my T20 career forward in that it has exposed me to more of the world stage and it has definitely marketed my name. It has helped me a lot and I am hoping to use this as far as possible.”

ABOUT THE HERO CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Since its inception in 2013, the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a franchise-based T20 format cricket tournament that combines two of the most compelling aspects of Caribbean life – dramatic cricket and a vibrant Carnival atmosphere. Over 149 million fans watched the 2016 season, combining broadcast and digital viewership, to make it one of the fastest growing leagues in world cricket. Jamaica Tallawahs are the current Hero CPL champions and the other competing teams are Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St. Lucia Stars and Trinbago Knight Riders. The 2017 tournament will run from 4 August – 9 September 2017. For further information visit www.cplt20.com.

 

-ENDS-

 

For further information please contact:

 

Peter Miller

Mobile: +447769119636

Caribbean Mobile: + 1 (758) 729 2012

Head of PR and Communications

Hero Caribbean Premier League

Sakima “Mister Smooth” Mullings battered Canadian challenger Phil “The Assassin” Rose into submission to win the Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender Boxing Series Junior Middleweight Contender title by technical knockout at the Mico University College Grounds on Wednesday night.

The history-making result came at one minute and eight seconds of the sixth round in the 10-round contest that produced the first double champion of the Contender Series.

The display by Mullings in his title bid was a masterful exhibition of tact, guile and a smooth, but telling execution of heavy body punches.

“It was my defence that cost me the fight more than anything else. I failed to defend with great care and because of that anomaly, he (Mullings) caught me with a number of effective punches. From then onward, it was downhill,” admitted the vanquished Rose.

It was one of the best displays in the ring by Mullings on local soil and he was probably incensed by the opposing camp who promised a knockout of the Jamaican.

Mullings dismissed the promise of Rose a knockout “as unfounded and far-fetched” as blessed “with a solid chin”.

With victory uppermost in his mind, Mullings began with some probing and speculative right-hand teasers to the body as he danced in and out to avoid the big swings of Rose. By midway the round, however, Mullings had begun to force his opponent into fighting his fight.

From then on, Mullings had taken full control of proceedings and Rose’s attempt to knock Mullings out with his big swings only met with frustration as the dapper Mullings danced and shifted as he eased into a comfortable lead after three rounds.

The fourth round Rose came into his own as he began to find his range. Somewhere between rounds four and five Mullings was seen shaking off a flush right that landed on the button.

This made Mullings stand and take notice, and from here on, he went to work with some big shots of his own that had Rose reeling in the fifth round. And as Mullings moved in for the kill, the bell came to Rose’s rescue.

With the scent of blood, Mullings moved in swiftly to finish off his opponent and had him reeling on the ropes twice before the American World International Boxing Hall of Fame Referee, Steve Smoger, stepped in to stop the carnage at 1:08 minutes of the sixth round.

“We used angles to get the upper hand of our opponent. He is bigger, stronger, but slow of feet. So we used angles to keep him moving and to create space. Keep him moving will slow him down and we will then have everything to ourselves,” Mullings said.

Mullings, for his efforts, walked away with $2 million and the Contender championship belt.

Earlier, former Contender champion Kemahl “The Hitman” Russell flattened his Trinidad and Tobago opponent Nigel Edwards in 1:14 minutes of the first round to win the Super Middleweight undercard over eight rounds. Dr Andre McDonald and his SureTime team had to be called in to revive Edwards who fell flat on his face after he had been knocked cold off his feet.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/mullings-wins-contender-title-in-style-stops-rose-in-sixth-round_106148?profile=1511

Shantavia Cain has been diagnosed with severe myopia since birth – a condition that led to serious reading challenges during her school journey. However, the 13-year-old was not daunted and managed to gain a 92. 8 per cent average in the recent Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), making her the top girl among the batch of students who interfaced with the Edufocal platform.

Nearsightedness, or myopia, as it is medically termed, from which Shantavia suffers, is a vision condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away appear blurred. People with myopia can have difficulty clearly seeing a movie, or TV screen, or the whiteboard in school.

Speaking with The Gleaner following the awards ceremony, which was held at The Pegasus Jamaica hotel in New Kingston, Tanya Campbell, Shantavia’s mother, indicated that it has been an emotionally-challenging journey, having to watch her child sit out a year of school to do surgeries. However, it is an experience she does not regret.

“She was born with it (myopia). The nerves at the back of her eyes weren’t properly developed at birth. The last time we went to the doctor to do her medical for Wolmer’s (Girls School) they said her vision is 20/70. I remember once I took her to Bustamante (Hospital for Children) for an appointment, and the doctor suggested that I send her to School for the Blind. I told him no, I think she is comfortable at George Headley Primary School,” she recalled.

“She is a fighter. She knows what she wants, and she works hard for it. It has been a rough ride because I am a single mother. I have to keep her motivated because there are times [when] she feels like giving up. Sometimes she will say, ‘Mommy, remember you are my eyes and I need to do some reading, so you have to come and read for me’. It has been a struggle, but she is determined to succeed,” Campbell said.

Campbell and Shantavia also expressed gratitude for Edufocal for increasing the font size to make it easier to read the materials, in addition to providing a fun way of learning.

EduFocal is an online social learning community that offers more than 23,000 preparatory questions, tutorial videos, and study guides for the GSAT and CSEC exams. It is presented in a manner akin to popular role-playing games (RPG).

EDUFOCAL EXPANDS ITS BORDERS

Chief Executive Officer of Edofocal, Gordon Swaby, said that the company was looking to expand its services as far as Africa. He said that creativity must be a fundamental factor that educators should embrace.

“The students are becoming more and more active on the platform and what I really and truly value is that they communicate on the platform. Students are who are strangers, students from prep school and primary school or students from different prep schools and primary schools, they talk to each other, they motivate each other, they even try to compete with each other.”

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20170728/shantavia-sees-success-despite-sight-challenges

A blistering body attack that knocked the wind out of his opponent, Canadian Phil Rose, enabled Jamaica’s Sakima Mullings to win the Wray & Nephew 2017 Junior Middleweight Contender title at the Mico University College campus on Wednesday night, by sixth-round technical knockout.

The bout was scheduled for 10 rounds, and the stoppage came after one minute and eight seconds of the round had elapsed. Mullings thereby achieved the feat of winning a Contender title for the second time, having done so in 2014 as a welterweight.

The cheers from the large crowd were loud and prolonged during the fight, and many boxing aficionados said that on the night, Mullings reminded them of Michael ‘The Body Snatcher’ McCallum, one of Jamaica’s most famous boxing champions, who ruled the roost for many years as a world champion in the junior middleweight, middleweight, and light-heavyweight divisions, and who was noted for his body attacks.

Mullings and Rose successfully navigated their way to the finals of the Contender competition, which started on April 5, and an action-packed encounter was expected.

Both men delivered. Mullings had stated before the fight that he would be “using brain rather brawn” to defeat his opponent, who was physically more imposing. It turned out, however, that he used a mixture of ring smarts and power punching to reach his destination.

AGGRESSION

He was aggressive from the opening bell. Coming in behind the jab, he manoeuvred Rose to the ropes and fed him a constant barrage of hooks to the body and head with both hands. Rose fought back gallantly, but Mullings, who told the Gleaner before the fight that “we have done our research on Rose and have a game plan for him”, gave no quarter.

His attacks were relentless, and although Rose fought back, Mullings was always able to stay one step ahead of him in the exchanges. The fourth round was the best for Rose, and he did make Mullings defend for a while in that round. Mullings quickly took over again in the fifth, and then accelerated and exploded in the sixth round. He attacked relentlessly, and a mixture of head and body shots put Rose down, but he was up quickly and took refuge and the mandatory eight count in Mullings’ corner.

Asked by New Jersey referee Steve Smoger if he wanted to continue, he said yes and was sent back to the centre of the ring. Within seconds, he was backed into a neutral corner and hammered by Mullings, at which stage Smoger stepped in and called a halt.

Mullings led on all the scorecards when the fight was called off. Judge Steve Weisfeld from New York and Keith Brown from Jamaica had it 49-46 and judge Dave Dunbar from Canada 49-45 for Mullings.

Mullings told The Gleaner afterwards: “I made a promise to Jamaica to bring the Contender title home since it was won by an American last year, and I have done so. I also promised to be the first two-time Contender champion, and I delivered. I am a very happy man tonight.”

Along with the title, he took home the first prize of $2 million. The second prize of $500,000 went to Rose; third prize of $250,000 to Tsetsi Davis, who lost to Mullings in the semis; and $200,000 to Richard Holmes, who was fourth.

Thursday, 27^th July 2017 – Bridgetown, Barbados: Digicel partnered with the Biggest Party in Sport, the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), to launch its Big Brother programme which bowled off on July 25^th in Barbados, where over 20 young cricketers got a chance to be coached by Barbados Tridents’ assistant coach and player, Vasbert Drakes and Tino Best, respectively.

The young cricketers did not disappoint as they came out with a level of professionalism and skills beyond their years. For the batsmen, their hand eye coordination was impeccable and they showed a variety of different shots in their arsenal. The bowlers also had a few tricks up their sleeves – slower balls, inswingers and of course, the famous yorker.

In speaking to the boys, Tino Best said; “I’m impressed with the level of talent you’ve all displayed here today and as we stand here on holy ground (Kensington Oval), I want you all to aim to play right here in a few years in front of 20,000 people whether it is for Barbados, The Tridents or the West Indies.”

Digicel Head of Sponsorship, Ben Bradley, said; “Firstly, a big round of applause to the coaches, players and our future generation of cricketers. The focus and intensity was there for every second of the training session, which was very encouraging and means we’re definitely off to a great start.”

Interim CEO of the National Sports Council, Jerry Blenman, who attended the launch, said; “We are keen for this Big Brother programme to become a pillar in the development of the future professional cricketers of this region. The ongoing support of Digicel in the areas of sports, youth and culture has been steadfast over the past 13 years here in Barbados and therefore commitment to programmes such as this, come as no surprise to anyone.”

The Big Brother Programme is phase one is the Digicel/CPL Youth Programme. Phase two of the initiative – Take it to the Streets/Take it to the Beach – starts in August.

Big Brother Clinics Schedule

Country	Date
St. Kitts and Nevis	July 28th
St. Lucia	July 29th
Guyana	July 29th
Jamaica	July 31st
Trinidad and Tobago	July 31st

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About Digicel Group

Digicel Group is a total communications and entertainment provider with operations in 31 markets throughout the Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. Digicel also runs a host of community-based initiatives across its markets, including Digicel Foundations in Haiti, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago which focus on educational, cultural and social development programs.

Visit www.digicelgroup.com for more information.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis, 25 July 2017

 

The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have announced the replacements to their squad for the upcoming Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament which begins on August 4^th.

Pakistani batsman Mohammad Hafeez will replace Australian Ben Cutting. Hafeez was a member of the Pakistan squad that won the Champions Trophy in England in June, making 57 not out as his team beat India by 180 runs in the final at the Oval. He has played for Pakistan more than 300 times and will bring a huge amount of experience to the Patriots squad.

Kieran Powell will be replaced by yet another Champions Trophy winner, Pakistani seamer Hasan Ali who claimed 3-19 in that final win over India. Still just 23-years-old, Hasan is one of the most exciting young quicks in world cricket.

Speaking about these replacements, Chief Executive Officer of the Patriots, Richard Berridge, said: “We have been fortunate to get such high-quality replacements that more than cover those players that we have lost. The Patriots management team feel this is the best squad that we have had going into a Hero CPL season and we are very confident of having a fantastic tournament.”

ABOUT THE HERO CARIBBEAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Since its inception in 2013, the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is a franchise-based T20 format cricket tournament that combines two of the most compelling aspects of Caribbean life – dramatic cricket and a vibrant Carnival atmosphere. Over 149 million fans watched the 2016 season, combining broadcast and digital viewership, to make it one of the fastest growing leagues in world cricket. Jamaica Tallawahs are the current Hero CPL champions and the other competing teams are Barbados Tridents, Guyana Amazon Warriors, St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots, St. Lucia Stars and Trinbago Knight Riders. The 2017 tournament will run from 4 August – 9 September 2017. For further information visitwww.cplt20.com.

-End-

For further information please contact:

Peter Miller

Mobile: +447769119636

Caribbean Mobile: + 1 (758) 729 2012

Head of PR and Communications

Hero Caribbean Premier League

Jamaica’s Sakima Mullings will try to create history tonight at The Mico University College, when he and Phil Rose from Canada, go head to head for the right to be called the Wray and Nephew Junior Middleweight Contender champion 2017. If Mullings wins, he will be a Contender champion for the second time, having won in the welterweight division in 2014, against Tsetsi Davis. That year, Davis retired in round seven, after six bruising rounds of boxing.

The action starts at 8:30 p.m., with two amateur bouts, and this will be followed at 9:30 by a super-middleweight bout between former middleweight Contender champion Kemahl Russell and Nigel Edwards for Trinidad and Tobago over eight rounds. The main attraction, which will be over 10 rounds, will then follow.

Everything is in place for a thrilling end to a season that started on April 5, with Mullings defeating Canada’s Winston Matthews over five rounds in the preliminaries.

There has been excitement and controversy over these past several weeks, and at the end, the two boxers seeded at No. 1 by their respective countries have ended up contending for the title. Mullings had three thrilling fights on his way to the finals.

After defeating Matthews, he went on to beat another Canadian, Larone Whyte, and then Jamaican Tsetsi Davis. The Davis fight was full of excitement, and using his boxing skills, Mullings was able to stay ahead of his opponent to the end and earn the right to be in tonight’s final.

VERY CONFIDENT

He is supremely confident that he will be the winner, and his mission, he says, is to “bring back the Contender title to Jamaica”. Last year, it was won by American Demarcus ‘Chop Chop’ Corley.

Mullings, who has a 21-3 record, has definitely been one of the best fighters in the competition, and his mixture of skill and punching power took him to the final. The major question mark that he has going into the fight tonight is his stamina. He showed vulnerability in this area in his fight against Davis, which was over seven rounds, but he was confident yesterday that this would not be a problem.

“I have put in the work and I am ready,” he said.

Rose, who has Jamaican family ties, has a 10-4-1 record. He has been a very popular competitor, and showed improvement everytime he entered the ring. His mission, he said at the beginning, was to “finish at the top of the competition” and he is very close to saying “mission accomplished”. He declared himself to be “ready to go” yesterday and that he will be taking the fight one round and at time, and was confident that if everything goes according to plan, he will be the 2017 Contender champion.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER EXPECTED

It should be a close, hard-fought encounter, and the general feeling yesterday was that the fight could go either way. The winner will take home the title and $2 million, the runner-up gets $500,000; third place, $250,000; and fourth place, $200,000. Since there will be no box-off for third and fourth, third place will go to the boxer who lost in the semi-finals to the champion.

In the undercard, Russell, 10-1, will face a determined challenge from an opponent who is a natural light-heavyweight. Edwards enters the fight with a 9-1-1 record, and his last fight was for the FECARBOX light-heavyweight title fight in January this year. He lost then by technical knockout to Sheldon Lawrence. Russell also lost for the first time in March 2017, to world-rated Sergiv Derevyanchenko, so both men are looking for victory tonight, to get themselves back on a winning path.

Russell has promised to give his fans an exciting performance, but it appears that he will have to work hard for victory, as Edwards was confident yesterday that he would be the winner tonight.

In addition to boxing there will be a variety show, and the promoters have promised, “It will be a night to remember.”

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20170726/final-showdown-jamaicas-mullings-canadas-rose-seek-contender-crown