The Spanish-Jamaican Foundation (SJF) awarded five bursaries each valued at $50,000 to young Jamaicans in need, who demonstrate passion and dedication in their study of the Spanish language. This is the third-consecutive year that they have made this award to the UWI Development & Endowment Fund (UWIDEF) bringing the total value of collection to $750,000 to date.

Vanessa Meggoe, project manager of the SJF, visited the UWIDEF office at the Mona Campus on Friday and handed over the donation to Karl Wright, UWIDEF board director, during a ceremony to mark the event.

UWIDEF has committed to continued support of the advancement of The University of the West Indies, Mona, acting as a “bridge” between the university and the wider community. The fund provides support for the welfare of students, including scholarships, scientific and academic research and development including ongoing contributions to the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Meggoe congratulated UWIDEF for its ongoing efforts in seeking assistance in the provision of scholarships. Successful recipients of the SJF award will also be afforded the opportunity to “give back” as they will be made SJF youth ambassadors. In this capacity, they will participate in SJF-supported community service projects.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Spanish-Jamaican-Foundation-donates–250-000-to-UWIDEF-in-support-of-the-study-of-Spanish_93562

There is no stopping the Wray & Nephew Jamaica Carnival team as they continue to spread excitement and revelry across the island. The first in the series of events, ‘Soca In Da City’ was a massive hit, and now the team is heading to Montego Bay for a ‘Blow Out’ fIte tomorrow at Pier 1.

Dubbed Carnival the Jamaican Way’, the fIte kicks off at 10 p.m. and goes up to 4 a.m. Supa Hype and friends, and DJ Spice from Team Soca NY, will be at the turntables delivering non-stop hits and madness with a special performance by soca sensation Iwer George.

DELIVERING GREATNESS

“I am happy to be a part of the return of the real Jamaica Carnival, since I was a part of the beginning with the great Bryon Lee and the Dragonaires, together with the crazy super blue Admiral Bailey, Tiger Colin Lucas and many others. I’m coming to deliver greatness. I’ll be performing all my favourite songs, like Nah Do That, Do The Iwer, Carnival Come Back Again, Up To Take A Bath, plus more,” Iwer George said.

“Soca people, link up. We’re coming to ‘shell dung’ Pier 1. There’s gonna be crazy vibe, fun and excitement from we touch the stage. Everyone come out in your numbers. We’re gonna show you how we fIte in Kingston,” Supa Hype added.

An excited Julianne Lee, director at Jamaica Carnival, said her team is looking forward to spreading soca across the island.

“I’m extremely eager to give western Jamaica a taste of what we will bring to the streets of Kingston on carnival Sunday on April 23. We’ve been having a successful season thus far, and I really have to thank everyone for their continuous support. MoBay, get ready because we’re on our way,” she said.

Source: http://jamaica-star.com/article/entertainment/20170324/iwer-george-brings-soca-fever-mobay

Stephanie Thomas-Christie (left), acting principal of Camberwell Primary School, expresses her gratitude to Michael Matalon, director of concrete operation at Food For the Poor, and Jodi-Ann Bowen (right), monitoring and evaluation officer, JN Foundation, with thank-you plaques for refurbished bathroom facilities donated to the school. Sharing in the moment is Daniella Jones, grade-six student.

Deep rural St Mary school, Camberwell Primary, has received an upgrade to its bathrooms with replacement of the pit latrines with flushable toilets.

The upgraded facilities were made possible through a donation from the JN Foundation and Food For the Poor, under the Flush For Life Programme, which is geared to eradicate pit latrines in schools. The bathrooms were officially handed over to the school on March 14. Stephanie Thomas-Christie, acting principal of Camberwell Primary School, commended JN Foundation and Food for the Poor for their donation.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170323/jn-foundation-food-poor-donate-flush-toilet-school

United Boxing Promotions boss Tyler Buxton, the man responsible for the Canadian team that will be going up against Jamaica’s top junior middleweights in the 2017 season of the ‘Wray and Nephew Contender’ boxing series, says things will not ‘end good‘ for Jamaica’s No. 1 ranked boxer, Sakima Mullings, if he uses his usual fighting style against his boxers.

Speaking to The Gleaner at the launch of the seventh season at Wray and Nephew on Tuesday night, Buxton says Mullings fights similar to the legendary Floyd Mayweather, but warned the top-rated Jamaican in the series to change his style if he hopes to stand a chance against his fighters.

“Sakima is probably the best guy (on Jamaica team). I saw him fight when I was here in November. If he wants to shoulder roll and stand in front of these Canadian guys, he’s going to get knocked out. I know he didn’t fight a good opponent that night, but if that’s his style and if he thinks he is Mayweather, it is not going to end good for him if he doesn’t change his style before the main fight,” Buxton told The Gleaner.

KNOCKOUTS

“Everyone has their style, but these Canadian guys punch very hard. If you look at their record, they knock guys out,” he added.

Mullings, the 2014 winner with 19 professional wins and three losses, will face a rather inexperienced fighter in Winston Matthews, who has one win and a loss after two pro fights, in the opening bout on April 5 at the Chinese Benevolent Association auditorium on Old Hope Road.

But Mullings was unfazed by the comments.

“I don’t think I am Mayweather. I am Sakima Mullings, and I have never been knocked out in a pro or amateur fight in my life,” was his brief response.

The seven other boxers representing the Jamaican team are Richard Holmes, Devon Moncriffe, Tsetsi Davis, Ramel Lewis, Meo Yeyo, Ricardo Planter and Gregory Miller. They will go up against Canadians Ryan Young, Frank Cotroni, Dave Leblond, Mike Breton, Larone Whyte, Phil Rose and John Ryan Wagner.

This year’s winner will walk away with $2 million, second place will take home $500,000, third place $250,000 and fourth, $200,000.

Fights will be aired live on TVJ.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20170323/early-warning-local-contender-boxers

The preliminaries are over. It is now time for the real deal.

Sakima Mullings, the 2014 champion, has been drawn to set the stage alight for an electrifying opening of the 2017 Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender Boxing Series against Canadian boxer Winston Matthews at the auditorium of the Chinese Benevolent Association in Kingston on April 5.

In the night’s main event, over six rounds to officially launch the seventh Contender Series, boxers Kesta Davis and Fabian Tucker shed their amateur tag by appearing in the middleweight contest that was won by Davis in unanimous fashion — 60-54 on the cards of judges Owen Nelson, Lindel Allen and Peter Richards.

This follows four continuous weeks of Wray of Nephew promotional road shows that were staged to large and lively audiences at Colonel Cove in Morant Bay, St Thomas; Island Village in Ocho Rios, St Ann; and Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

To launch the seventh season, lots drawn for opponent pairings were made at the fourth and final staging of the Wray and Nephew county-hopping Contender promotional road shows that was held on the company’s football ground on Spanish Town Road on Tuesday night.

The Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing Series, geared toward promoting Jamaica boxing by fostering boxing talent against comparable talent from beyond the shores of Jamaica, will see Canadian opponents appearing in the seventh staging.

Mark Kenny, the mastermind behind the resuscitation of Jamaican boxing in conjunction with the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, found that after four seasons of the nursery building, the period for expansion and further development was right in an attempt to broaden the experience. The overseas element was therefore introduced.

The process of expansion began in 2013, and by 2016 Jamaica had moved away from fellow Caribbean talents to face the music of their American counterparts.

For the seventh season, eight of the country’s most accomplished Contender boxers will challenge eight Canadians of comparable talent for the middleweight championship title over 10 rounds. From total prize money of $3 million, the eventual winner will pocket $2 million.

Sakima Mullings, the number one seed of Team Jamaica, is to deliver the Jamaica challenge on opening night. The others to carry the Jamaican flag are number two seed Richard Holmes, Tsetsi Davis (third seed), and Devon Moncriffe (fourth seed) .

Both Mullings and Moncriffe are past winners, while Holmes and Davis were twice runners-up.

— Hurbun Williams

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Former-champ-Mullings-to-open-Contender-Series-against-Canada-s-Matthews_93310

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Port of Spain, 20 March 2017

#CPL17

The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) are delighted to welcome Carib Beer as the Official Beer of the biggest party in sport for the next three years at a launch in Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain on Monday evening.

Headquartered in Trinidad, Carib is established across the Caribbean and overseas and will work together with the tournament’s marketing and sponsorship team this summer to deliver outstanding fan-centred events around the various stadia. In addition, this year fans across the Caribbean can relish specially themed ‘tailgating’ parties, which will hype up the colour and carnival atmosphere off the field even further.

Welcoming the announcement, Mr. Damien O’Donohoe, Chief Executive Officer of the Hero CPL, said: “Carib are passionate about this partnership and they are an innovative and socially aware company who have strong core values, such as leadership, accountability and going the extra mile, which are also a big part of the Hero CPL’s own values. Carib Beer has a long-standing association as the number one beer in the Caribbean and we are delighted to team up together for the next three years. We believe that this association will enable both brands to ramp up the biggest party in sport this summer, in this, the Hero CPL’s fifth year.”

Mr. Ian MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer at Carib Brewery, said: “The importance of cricket to Caribbean people is beyond doubt and at Carib Brewery we have, over the years been at the forefront of supporting local, regional, cultural, sporting, charitable and social activities throughout the diaspora. Carib beer and cricket are firmly rooted in the way of life of our people and with T20 being the most exciting form of modern day cricket, it gives us great pleasure to come on board as the Official Beer of the Hero CPL.”

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.

-END-

For further information please contact:

Peter Breen
Head of PR and Communications
Caribbean Premier League
Mobile: +1-(758)-7287500 (Caribbean)
Mobile: +353-85-7205752 (Ireland)
Skype: pbreen67

Jamaica’s proud and decorated boxing history and the great boxers of the ’70s and ’80s were a result of the inspiration and foundation of local boxing gyms. However, in the ’90s, most of those facilities, like the Guinness and Dragon Gyms, closed. As a result, the enthusiasm and success went with them.

Recently, Wray and Nephew has attempted to revive boxing with the ‘Contender Series’ and gyms have popped up all over again, with young and inspired boxers again dreaming of being world champions.

Can these gyms again produce world beaters, the likes of Mike McCallum, Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke, Bunny Grant, Percy Hayles, Uriah Grant, the late Trevor Berbick and Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock?

The reality of present-day Jamaican gyms leave a lot to be desired. A visit to Sugar Knockout Gym in Olympic Gardens and the Bruising Gym in Stony Hill revealed that gyms are short on equipment and most are on borrowed space and time and need somewhere to call home.

“Nobody give us anything,” Lindel ‘Sugar’ Wallace, Sugar Knockout Gym founder, told us. “The boxing board gave us a glove we use (in training) and it’s the same gloves we use to fight. We need a mid-section ball, speed ball, punching bag, skipping rope, mouthpiece and bandages, and I am not getting any help and I would be glad if I could get some,” he said

NO EQUIPMENT PROBLEM

One gym with no equipment problem is Bruising gym. Owner Carl Grant ‘begs’ when he travels and only needs a place to open a full-time gym. “When I travel, I tell them in Jamaica, we have no gear. When competitions are over, I beg gear. I own a truck, so it’s easy to move stuff,” he said.

Some equipment he got through a friend who looked them up online and sent a barrel with shoes, gloves, gear and punching bags. “I can host a tournament and have gear for the opposition and my team. But I can’t sit and wait on the boxing board,” he continued.

GRANT WANTS OWN PLACE

Grant now wants his own place. He says a location has been identified for development. “We get the privilege to use the Rocky Valley Community Centre for nine years, but we outgrew it. We need an indoor gym that can open 24 hours. Member of Parliament Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn is looking about a piece of land, and the Sport Development Foundation said if I can show proper documentation, they will fund it,” he said.

His setback is lack of running water. “We (centre) just need water and a place to call our own, but, otherwise, we are alright. If they (the board) need results, they must put in resources, and they are not doing that,” he added.

For Wallace, it’s distressing not having a reliable training venue. “The main thing we need is a space. If Government can help us get somewhere, it would be good. They promised to develop somewhere near six years ago, but I can’t put my faith in that. I need somewhere I can call Sugar Knockout. I tried at home, but the space is too small. I tried it in Waterhouse, but some people don’t want things to be better between the communities,’ he added.

Jamaica Boxing Board of Control president Stephen ‘Bomber’ Jones has admitted that local gyms need more equipment. However, plans are afoot to develop two national gyms. “The only thing missing is equipment. The focus is on a national gym, which will look more professional. We will build the national gym, Stanley Couch, and we are working on having another in Montego Bay. I will be comfortable having two gyms we can be proud of, then we can assist others with resources we have,” he said.

PROPER EQUIPMENT

In two months, Jones wants proper equipment at the Stanley Couch Gym and intends to have regular fights there “weekly or every two weeks’. While in Montego Bay, he wants a location where anyone can work out. “National boxers will be free, but we will seek membership so the gym take care of itself,” he reasoned.

Both Grant and Wallace also believe Wray and Nephew can also do a lot more to assist the gyms.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20170320/shadow-boxing-local-gyms-appeal-help-jbbc-develop-national-gyms

Players of Supreme Ventures’ popular Cash Pot game will get a chance to win over three times their regular prize payout, the highest winnings ever, with the brand new Mega Ball promotion.

During the Mega Ball promotion, which runs from tomorrow until Saturday, May 13, players will have an opportunity to win big for eight weeks. To participate in the Mega Ball promotion, players play Cash Pot as normal. They then have the option of playing the Mega Ball for an extra $10 or more on their Cash Pot number. A Mega Ball bet cannot be more than a player’s Cash Pot bet.

PRIZE PAYOUT

Immediately after each Cash Pot draw, one additional ball will be drawn from the Mega Ball promotional machine with three balls – 1 gold ball (the Mega Ball) and two white balls. When a player’s Cash Pot number is drawn along with the Mega Ball they will receive a prize payout of $960 for every $10 bet. If a white ball is drawn, the Cash Pot prize payout remains at $260 for every $10 bet. The more players bet the more they win.

Assistant vice-president of corporate communications, Simone Clarke-Cooper, anticipates a huge response to the Cash Pot Mega Ball promotion, and says, “We always try to find new ways to re-engage our players, giving them a good gaming experience, with good rewards. The Mega Ball offering delivers on both those fronts and we know our players will enjoy an enhanced version of their favourite game,” she said.

The Mega Ball feature will be added to all six daily Cash Pot draws, with the exception of Good Friday when no draws will be held.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20170318/cash-pot-mega-ball-promises-big-winnings

The Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) has joined several other groups expressing concern over the Government’s proposal to impose general consumption tax (GCT) on group health insurance.

Finance Minister Audley Shaw announced the new tax as part of a package to finance the Government’s expenditure for the 2017-2018 fiscal year and it was immediately greeted with howls of protests.

Now the CCRP, which, through a partnership with Sagicor, offers a group health insurance package to its members, has added its voice to those concerned.

“Most of our members are pensioners. Contributing to the group health plan is financially challenging; however, they are prepared to make this sacrifice to ensure they have some measure of coverage,” said founder and executive chair of CCRP, Jean Lowrie-Chin.

She said to demand that they pay more by way of GCT would make the plan unaffordable for some members, thereby putting more pressure on the already overburdened public-health system.

“Given the current situation with our public health-care system, there should be no deterrent for persons to subscribe to health insurance plans,” said Lowrie-Chin.

“The CCRP is appealing to the powers that be to rethink this decision as implementation of this measure will adversely affect those who are most vulnerable in our society,” added Lowrie-Chin.

The CCRP is a non-profit membership organisation for persons aged 50 and over.

The organisation currently has a membership of more than 1,800. Members are entitled to numerous benefits, including eligibility for enrolment in a group major medical health insurance plan that offers a lifetime coverage of $5 million.

Shaw is expected to react to the criticisms of the tax on group health insurance when he closes the Budget Debate on Thursday.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20170319/retirees-say-no-tax-group-health-insurance