By Emmerson Campbell in Birmingham, UK
Star athlete, Emanuel Archibald, made hay in the sunshine at the ongoing Commonwealth Games here in Birmingham, England yesterday, leaping to first in his qualifying group in the long jump and second in his 100 metres heat to keep his medal hopes alive.
Archibald disturbed the sand at the Alexander Stadium at 7.83 metres to top Group B and to qualify for tomorrow’s final as the sixth seed.
India’s Sreeshankar Sreeshankar topped Group A’s qualifying round with a best jump of 8.05 metres.
Archibald, 27, owns the national long jump record which stands at 8.12 metres and he will be aiming to record a personal best and leapfrog the higher seeds to secure a spot on the podium.
After jumping, Archibald took his talents to the track and powered across the line in 10.28 seconds to place second just behind Trinidad’s Jerod Elcock (10.26s) to progress to today’s round of sprints.
Archibald will be hoping to replicate his heroics and throughout the remainder of the quadrennial event to bag a medal for the Golden Arrowhead.
He will contest the first 100 metres semifinal at 19:10 hours (UK time) and the long jump final at 19:42 hours tomorrow (UK time).
Elsewhere on the track, Guyana’s Jasmine Abrams placed third in her 100 metres heat in 11.41 seconds to qualify for the women’s semifinals this evening.
Noelex Holder only managed fourth in heat five in 10.50 seconds and will therefore not progress to the latter rounds. Akeem Stewart also finished fourth in his heat (9) after running 10.46 seconds and so he too did not make it past the initial round.
Joanna Archer – 800 metres athlete – had her time at the Games cut short after she finished sixth out of six starters in heat two in a pedestrian 2:07.24 seconds yesterday in her opening race. Also in action yesterday were squash player, Mary Fung-A-Fat, and swimmers, Patrice Mahaica, her brother, Paul Mahaica, and Sekhel Tzed.
On the court, Fung-A-Fat defeated a game Amna Fayaz of Pakistan 3-2 in a five-set plate semifinal to advance to the plate finals today.
In the pool, Mahaica touched the pad in seventh place with a time of 34.06 seconds for the women’s 50 metres backstroke, Tzed (26.27s) finished fourth in heat two of the 50 metres freestyle while the male Mahaica swam in sixth in 25.15 seconds in heat three of the men’s 50 metres freestyle. The trio failed to get past the first round in their respective events.
Meanwhile, besides Archibald and Abrams, boxers, Desmond Amsterdam and Keevin Allicock will also be in action today along with Guyana’s badminton player, Priyanna Ramdhani, squash players and the tennis players.
