Sakima destroys Rose in Contender final

Sakima ‘The Mauler’ Mullings delivered on his promise of bringing the Wray and Nephew Contender boxing title back to Jamaica with a dominant sixth-round technical knockout victory over Canadian Phil Rose at The Mico University College last night.

Mullings was in control of the bout from start to finish, but started to exert his class over Rose with heavy blows to the body and head from the fourth round onwards.

Rose offered hard shots of his own in the first two rounds, but seemed to lose stamina and progressively fade with each following round.

He was saved at the end of the fifth round after Mullings’ hard lefts and rights to the head left him staggering. He returned for the sixth, and what would be his final round, only to be knocked down, then found himself in the corner moments later to face a flurry of shots from Mullings before referee Steve Smoger put a stop to the contest one minute and eight seconds into the round.

Rose was gracious in defeat.

“It was a great fight and like I said before, the better man won – Mullings,” he said. “He has some good body shots but the body’s strong. He caught me in the head a few times that dazed me a little bit and I wasn’t able to recover from them.”

Mullings said he was victorious because of effective counter punches.

“We knew coming into the fight that Phil is the bigger and stronger opponent so we definitely had to move to pick and choose our opportunities and to counter him when he was coming with his shots,” he said.

Mullings becomes the first boxer to win the Contender title twice after his 2014 victory.

Source: http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20170727/sakima-destroys-rose-contender-final

Pakistani champions trophy winners join St Kitts & Nevis Patriots

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 4th.

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

Final Showdown – Jamaica’s Mullings, Canada’s Rose Seek Contender Crown

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

Mullings versus Rose for $2 million

CANADIAN boxer Phil Rose wants to win on his parents’ home soil, but will have to get past a man of the soil, Sakima Mullings, who is confident he can create history by being the first to win the Wray & Nephew Contender Series twice with $2m on the line.

Mullings previously won as a welterweight and now fights as a junior middleweight. Rose is a super welterweight with more than 20 years’ boxing experience. Born in Durham, southern Ontario, he fought in the pros for six years. On November 20 last year, his first fight in two years, he knocked out Ryan Young, who was also a Contender in the tournament.

Rose has been practising in the gym daily, doing cardio exercises and working on his defence strategy. He has been watching reruns of previous fights to identify his own weaknesses and those of Mullings.

Mullings said he is prepared enough to overcome Rose, a heavy-duty mechanic with the Canadian National Railway Company.

“I feel good. I am just happy that I have been able to keep my form, and I have been able to make it back in the finals again,” Mullings said.

More experienced fighter

“I believe I have a better advantage at winning because of the fact that I have done the tournament before. I have more fights than him. I am a more experienced fighter. For three times in my career, I have gone 12 rounds and I finished the strongest in those fights,” he added.

Rose said winning the title would mean more than a major career accomplishment. It would be a life-changing experience for him and his family members. He has always wanted to contribute something to Jamaica, his parents’ birthplace.

He was born in Ontario, Canada, on June 6, 1982. However, like many young people of Jamaican heritage, he identifies with the island his parents hail from. His mother, Claudette Beckford, originates from Red Hills, St Andrew. His father, Phil Rose, is from Rose Lane in Kingston.

Rose said he was overjoyed to have the golden opportunity of fighting in Jamaica. He believes the competition could provide the right impetus for his career.

“To come back to Jamaica was an amazing feeling, and winning would mean a lot to me and my career and put me in the spotlight. But more so, it would allow me to give back to the country where my parents are from.”

After 14 weeks of competition, the final is on at The Mico University College tonight. Television Jamaica will air the match live, starting at 9:30.

Source: http://jamaica-star.com/article/sports/20170726/mullings-versus-rose-2-million

Canada's finalist in the Wray & Nephew Contender

Phil Rose, Canada’s finalist in the Wray & Nephew Contender, who will face off against Jamaica’s Sakima Mullings. The final fight will be held at The Mico University College in Kingston on July 26. 

Jamaica's finalist in the Wray & Nephew Contender.jpg

Sakima Mullings, Jamaica’s finalist in the Wray & Nephew Contender, who will face off against Canada’s Phil Rose. The final fight will be held at The Mico University College in Kingston on July 26.

 

Mullings Looking To Keep Word To Jamaica

Sakima ‘The Mauler’ Mullings is one of the boxers who consistently fills venues locally when placed on a fight card. Because of this popularity, he says that he feels a responsibility to the Jamaican public to return the Wray & Nephew Contender Series title to the country after it was won by American DeMarcus ‘Chop Chop’ Corley last season.

Born in Kingston on July 10, 1982, Mullings, the youngest of his mother’s four children – two boys and two girls. He, however, left Jamaica for Spring Valley, New York, at four and said that his interest in boxing started at an early age. He said that his idols at that time were Mike Tyson, whom he describes as being the “baddest man on the planet at the time”, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, and Mike McCullum.

BASKETBALL INTEREST

Mullings tried various sports but said that he had a special interest in basketball. He said that this is where he developed a competitive nature, which made him the boxer he is today.

“For my first fight, I fought a guy named Mohammed Hussein. It was a great experience because I put in months of work. To get my first fight, I must’ve trained for over six or nine months. It was exciting. I put in all the work, and I wanted to show I had improved and I could do it (win). I won by a first-round knockout. It motivated me to just continue in the sport.”

Mullings has various sources of motivation that keep him stepping into the ring. Two key ones are his children, ages 10 and four months. However, he said that he made a promise to his fans, and that is next on his list of priorities this season.

“Based on the first season, I think there was a lot of high expectation for me to be the first Contender champion,” he said. “I didn’t live up to those expectations in terms of delivering when I was supposed to. During the fourth season in 2014, I had the opportunity to re-enter and correct the mistakes I made the first season. I showed Jamaica the improvement I had made over the years.”

Mullings now turns his attention to becoming the first two-time Contender champion, but to do this, he must beat Canadian Phil Rose in tomorrow evening’s final at the Mico University College.

“This season I re-entered the Contender based on a promise I made to Jamaica that I would be the man to bring the title back to Jamaica after it had gone abroad last year,” Mullings shared. “At this stage, Contender is the biggest stage in Jamaican boxing. When the record books are closed and they look back and say who was the best fighter, Sakima Mullings cannot be ignored.”

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20170725/mullings-looking-keep-word-jamaica

Digicel and CPL launches Youth Programme

 

Young cricketers across the Caribbean to be coached by their childhood idols

Tuesday 25th July – Castries, St. Lucia:  Digicel today announced a partnership with the biggest party in sport – the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) – to launch the inaugural Digicel CPL Youth Programme, which will see over 200 young aspiring cricketers across the region being trained by their local CPL franchise players and coaches.

The two-phased initiative, which consists of The Big Brother Programme and Take it to the Streets,  allows both Digicel and the CPL to give back to and nurture up and coming young talents from across the participating CPL tournament markets, including Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Each one-day clinic will consist of boys and girls who will be taught the fundamentals of the game in order to improve and hone their skills while learning from the best in the sport. Not only will they be sharpening their cricketing skills, but will also instill the intangible requirements it takes to be great in the sport.

Digicel’s Head of Sponsorship, Ben Bradley said; “Sport is a major part of the Caribbean culture and we are staying true to our commitment of developing and nurturing athletes across the region. The kids are the focus here – we are merely providing the platform for them to express themselves and show their class – while learning from some of the world’s best.”

As the first youth partnership with Digicel, Damien O’Donohoe, CEO of Hero CPL commented; “I’ve had the opportunity to watch and interact with some of these young talents across the region over the years and I can tell you they’re very promising. So we’re very excited to be working with Digicel in this new way to help develop these kids, some of who will be playing on these fields in the future.”

The Big Brother programme kicks off in Barbados on Tuesday.

 –End-

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.

 

About 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.

For further information please contact:

Peter Miller

UK Mobile: +447769119636

Caribbean Mobile: + 1 (758) 729 2012

Head of PR and Communications

Hero Caribbean Premier League

Women in ICT on the Wednesday Agenda

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, 19th July, 2017 –  Last Wednesday saw a vibrant and far reaching conversation on Women in ICT, this as the 33rd Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition continued at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana Dominican Republic.
The panel entertained questions from the audience and as such was able to address  a wide range of issues. The panel included: Karen Bevans, Director, Belize Tourism Bureau; Janice Sutherland, CEO, Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat, Digicel; Delleriece Hall, Country Manager, FLOW – Turks and Caicos; Anuskha Sonia, CEO, Spang Makandra; and was chaired by the Secretary General of CANTO – Teresa Wankin.
Karen Bevans led the panel with a presentation which looked at the relevance and functionality of  ICTs to everyday life as they improve business performance –  productivity, profitability; access to services from any location, allow real-time communication, and provide more opportunities for everyone, especially for girls/women. She noted this against the background that ICT was still very male dominated.
Ms. Bevans used her presentation to highlight practical examples in Belize of the positive effects of ICTs in Belize in creating opportunities for women inclusive of tourism, trade, entrepreneurship and online services. She cautioned that the use of ICT can  also have negative impacts and that young girls should be careful  of what they upload as it can make them vulnerable. In concluding, she stated that:  “Women in ICT are still battling gender inequality”.
Delleriece Hall made the timely and potent statement that “Once you put your mind to it, go for it. Sky is the limit!  I didn’t have a background in engineering despite managing others who did. We’re all super stars in the Turks and Caicos. I’m the first female CEO of T&C and CWC is 120 years old in T&C.”

Anuskha Sonai also offered words of wisdom stating “It’s not automatic. You have to speak up for the roles you want in the organization. Support of my family was integral in my nontraditional choice”.

Questions which engaged the forum included what are the top three qualities that made you right for the CEO role? Do you see women at the fore of Caribbean ICT or a long way still?  Women leading with empathy is seen as chaotic. Thoughts? And Female mentorship is lacking. What are you prepared to do about it?  To the last question,  the Secretary General excitedly responded:  “This forum speaks for itself. Next year expect to see tangible evidence of what we’ve seen here.”
Minister Catherine Hughes, Minister of Public Telecommunications with responsibility for Tourism, Guyana who was in the audience,  delivered a vote of thanks to the panel. She underscored the importance of mentorship: “Within CANTO structure, we should create a program to encourage more women to participate in all year round. We are graduating more women in our universities yet women are not being prepared to sit at the table. I compliment all the men that are of great support to their women.”

CANTO is the Caribbean’s premier telecommunications event for industry professionals, academics and regional governments. The Conference ran from the 16th -19th July, 2017.
About CANTO
CANTO is recognized as the leading trade association of the ICT sector for shaping information and communication in the Caribbean. Founded in 1985 as a non-profit association of 8 telephone operating companies, CANTO has now grown to over 125 members in more than 35 countries. A Board of Directors appointed by the membership directs policy of the Association. This strategy is executed by the staff of a permanent Secretariat based in Trinidad and Tobago

CANTO 2017 – Digicel Here for the People of the Region

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, July, 18th, 2017.   14 years ago, Digicel arrived and started to invest in the Caribbean. They promised to rapidly transform the landscape and have done so by building their networks from scratch. Today, they continue to deliver.  At their Ministerial breakfast on ICT offerings,  delegates viewed a Digicel video presentation detailing its CARCIP tender which was a three (3) year development project to deliver a first class network. The project is intended to kick start ICT revolution in St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Grenada.  At the breakfast, Digicel reassured Caribbean governments of its commitment to development in the region and their willingness to do what is right for each market.
Tuesday also saw Multi-play and Content Strategies on the agenda with a Keynote delivered by Romano Solano, Sales Director, ZTE.  He noted that in the future mobile technology will be even more essential than it is today as it will have an impact similar to the introduction of the automobile or electricity.
Though relatively new Mr. Solano noted that 5G will fully realize its economic benefits in 2035 and that in the US, it has the potential of producing more than 12 trillion dollars. It is expected to affect every industry of the global economy and by 2035 it will support 22 million jobs. Bringing it to reality however would require unified standards, persistent innovation, cross-boundary collaboration and commercial practice.
Other presenters included E Chris Forte, Cyient who dealt with the topic “Enabling a Connected Communications System”; Jose Luis Horna, CEO, Converlogic presented on “Embedded SIM (eSIM)”.  Multi-play and Content Strategies was the focus of  Christopher Gordon, Head of TV Customer Value Propositions, CWC, Mike Antonius, Acting CEO, Telesur, and Frederick Morton, of Tempo and Shamir Saddler, CEO, Smart Term.
In concluding, it was noted that the future of ICT is in business analytics. The IT professional of the future is the one who can analyze the data using quantitative methods and reveal the social interactivity.
About CANTO
CANTO is recognized as the leading trade association of the ICT sector for shaping information and communication in the Caribbean. Founded in 1985 as a non-profit association of 8 telephone operating companies, CANTO has now grown to over 125 members in more than 35 countries. A Board of Directors appointed by the membership directs policy of the Association. This strategy is executed by the staff of a permanent Secretariat based in Trinidad and Tobago

Rainforest Seafoods supports Jamaica Tallawahs

Jamaica Tallawahs player Rovman Powell (centre), engages with Rainforest representatives at a recent Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) partnership meeting. Listening keenly, are (from left): Ben Jardim, Rainforest Seafoods business development manager; Jerome Miles, Rainforest Seafoods general manager; Michael Hall, Hero CPL’s cricket operations directors and Roger Lyn, Rainforest Seafoods director of marketing and corporate affairs. Hero Caribbean Premier League has welcomed back Rainforest Seafoods as an official partner for the 2017 season of the Caribbean T20 cricket tournament.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20170722/your-neighbourhood

IMF Semi-Annual Review Expected To Be Positive, Says EPOC

The Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) reports say that Jamaica has met all structural benchmarks under the precautionary standby arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as at the and of June 2017.

It said that an IMF team will be in the island by September 2017 to conduct its semi-annual review based on the June performance criteria.

EPOC said it expects the review to be positive based on the performance of selected fiscal and monetary indicators up to May 2017 and the successful completion of structural benchmarks through to June 2017.

In a release, EPOC said the Government met the eight structural benchmarks for public-sector transformation, public bodies and public service reform.

These include the benchmark for public bodies to submit all legislative changes to Parliament by June 15, 2017, directing all earmarked revenues from the Civil Aviation Authority, the Tourism Enhancement Fund and the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund to the Consolidated Fund.

Upcoming benchmarks to be submitted to Cabinet are a proposal for the crisis resolution framework by July 31, as well as a proposal to revise the Bank of Jamaica Act in line with IMF recommendations by August 31.

Encouraging Performance

It said revenue performance remained encouraging, with tax revenue intake of $68.6 billion in April and May equaling the budgeted target.

EPOC’s July communique notes that recurrent expenditure for the first two months of the fiscal year fell below budget by $1.1 billion, while capital expenditure was $800 million or 27.7 per cent below budget.

“We encourage the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) to keep capital expenses in line with budget for the rest of the fiscal year given its importance as one of the main drivers of economic growth,” the communique said.

EPOC said the primary balance of $15.5 billion exceeding the budgeted target of $8.2 billion for April and May.

“We are encouraged by the performance of this significant fiscal metric, signalling continued fiscal discipline by the GOJ,” it said.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170724/imf-semi-annual-review-expected-be-positive-says-epoc