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Samuda slams critics of investment in small sportsRead more

Para-Taekwondo athlete to the Paralympic Games Shauna-Kay Hines was left gushing about her experience on her return to the island from Tokyo, Japan, on Monday.

For the Jamaica Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (JABBFA), they now have that champion feeling because they were able to have the country represented at the 2021 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness’ 48th Central American and Caribbean Championships, which went down at mid-August in El Salvador’s capital with a similar name, San Salvador.

The Jamaica Paralympic Association continues to write history in the annals of the Paralympic movement with the berth of the sports of judo and taekwondo at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Theador Subba, the Lima 2019 Para Pan American judo bronze medallist in the over 100kg category, will go on the mat in Tokyo with hopes of earning Jamaica’s first-ever medal at the pinnacle event in Paralympic sport, while Shauna-Kaye Hines, the Lima 2019 Para Pan American bronze medallist, will engage in combat for a similar and coveted place in the sport of taekwondo.

“I am going not as a spectator but as an active participant in a sport which I love and to do my best to ensure that another medal goes into my cabinet and Jamaica’s vault,” said Subba, who only took up the sport in 2018.

Hines is also young in the sport, but in the three years since she has pursued it she has garnered many medals in regional and international competitions.

“I am a competitor, and to compete successfully you have to believe in yourself and remain focused on the prize for your country and yourself. I am ready,” she declared.

Both Subba and Hines are living sport at the international level while pursuing degrees at The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, which is a mandate that president of the Jamaica Paralympic Association, Christopher Samuda encourages athletes to embrace.

“Sport is excellence of the mind and body, and whereas money can facilitate both in the classroom and on the field of play, we teach our Paralympians and para athletes that the game is ultimately won when the mind commands the body to keep that appointment with destiny,” Samuda said.

Subba and Hines understand that they both have an appointment with destiny in Tokyo, the pursuit of what President Samuda stated: “will, in and of itself, provide inspiration to para athletes who face challenges personally and in society, but who continue to emerge with self-esteem, pride and sense of triumph.”

NATIONAL representative in the discus, Traves Smikle is slowly working his way back to peak level, even as he nurses a long-term injury that has kept him out of competition for some time.

Shanae Gordon is used to clutching a ball and outsprinting rivals in her daily practice and play. In the classroom, the national rugby player proves how much those qualities are part of her educational habits.  Shanae has grabbed a scholarship provided by the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA). She is running with it to now earnRead more

There is much hope and excitement that the development of Jamaica’s junior gymnastics will spring to another development, with the inaugural Mayberry Gymnastics Strength and Skill Testing Series. More than 100 youngsters, aged five years and older, are participating in the first event in the series, which is scheduled to begin today at 5:00 pm andRead more

The JAAA has secured at least one international race for Jamaica’s men’s 4x100m relay squad as they attempt to a secure spot at the Tokyo Olympics later this year. A Jamaican quartet will race at a World Athletics Continental Tour track and field meet to be held at Prairie View, Houston, Texas on May 25.Read more

The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has pumped its most significant investment yet into a particular sport with $14.5 million to the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). Dubbed ‘Olympic Destiny’, the agreement is set to provide a huge boost to the nation’s athletes gearing up for the Olympic Games and other international meetings. It provides fundingRead more

The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has pumped its biggest investment yet into a particular sport with a $14.5-million financing to the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). Dubbed ‘Olympic Destiny’, the agreement is set to provide a huge boost to the nation’s athletes gearing up for the Olympic Games and other international meetings, as it providesRead more