22
Ten bodybuilders to represent Guyana at CAC Championships TEN of Guyana’s top bodybuilders have been selected to represent Guyana at the Central American and Caribbean 43rd Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships in the Bahamas later this month. The 10-member team is made up of eight male and two female athletes with chiselled bodies. The two females are multitalented athlete Alisha Fortune and Junica Pluck, while the males are Kerwin Clarke, Devon Davis, Emmerson Campbell, Marlon Bennett, Zalim Bacchus, Rashleigh Bentick, Mahendra Singh and Sylvester Andrews. Clarke at 28 years old and a member of the Buddy’s Gym will be competing in the light heavyweight division and is a very experienced bodybuilder, having won the overall national novices title in 2011. He won the overall title at the Hugh Ross Classic the following year and that same year he won a bronze medal at the CAC championships held in Puerto Rico. In 2013, he was crowned then subsequently went on that very year to secure a bronze medal at the CAC championships in the Dominican Republic.
Alisha Fortune
Last year he was crowned Mr Guyana and also won the Hugh Ross Classic and placed fourth overall at the CAC championships in St Maarten. Earlier this year, Clarke was crowned Mr Guyana. Fortune at age 40, trains out of the Guyana Defence Force’s Gym and has won five Hugh Ross Classic titles and eight national senior championship titles. She is also a three-time Flex Night winner and the winner of a bronze medal at the 2012 CAC championships. Fortune will compete in the Ms Body Fitness cat-
egory and Campbell in the Men’s Physique. Davis will compete in the flyweight division while Bennett (lightweight), Pluck (Ms Bikini), Bacchus (132lb), Bentick (143lb), Singh (165lb) and Andrews (over 176lb) are the others. Campbell training out of the BodyMaxx placed second in last year’s Flex Night, but bounced back this year to win both the national Novice title as well as the Senior Overall title. The CAC 43rd championships will take place September 24-27 at the Melia Nassau Beach Resort in The Bahamas. According to reports, the organisers have announced that the event, which showcases categories in bodybuilding, figure, bikini, fitness and physique, will be as grand as ever. Over 400 athletes from 41 countries are expected to participate in the Championships. According to reports, officials say the teams are expected to bring with them 1 500 to 2 000 persons in total. The Bahamas have won the overall title eight times and this is the sixth time the event is being hosted in that country.
NOTABLE DATES LENNOX Beckles remains one of the most skilful and tactically sound boxers to have come out of Guyana. Most of the `old timers’ believe his name should be called when the top five from these shores are being mentioned. Many who have seen him in action are adamant that his skill and ring craft are unmatched by any of the current crop of fighters. During his prime, the quick-fisted Beckles brushed aside the likes of Caesar Barrow, Rugged Mack, Vernon Lewis, Johnny DePeiza and Eddie Perkins just to name a few. Beckles was 24 years old when he clashed with Brazilian Joao Henrique on September 15, 1967 in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian was undefeated in 17 fights at the time and three years younger that the Guyanese who retired in the seventh round. The defeat caused Beckles to slump to five defeats in 31 fights (including two draws). He made his professional debut in September 1960 and reached 10 fights without being defeated. His first blemish came in May 1964 against Percy Hayles. Beckles was defeated via a unanimous decision. Fellow Guyanese Brian Muller was Beckles’ last opponent. The fight between the two took place in Guyana on May 27, 1979 and Muller was adjudged the winner. Beckles won 33 fights, lost 13 and drew two.
GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Holder ready to embrace leadership challenge
New West Indies Test captain Jason Holder is ready to embrace leadership challenge.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Newly appointed West Indies Test captain Jason Holder says he is looking forward to the responsibility the new role will bring but says he does not feel under any pressure as he gears up for the assignment. The 23-year-old fast bowler was announced to replace Denesh Ramdin as Test captain earlier this month, ahead of next month’s tour of Sri Lanka. Holder, also the OneDay International captain, is a relative newcomer to international cricket with just eight Tests and 33 ODIs behind him, but believes he has what is required to handle the responsibility of leadership. “At this present time there’s no pressure on me. Obviously it is something I’ve done before. I’m the captain of the one-day team,” Holder said here yesterday in his first official media conference. “It’s obviously some added responsibility in the Test arena (but) I don’t think it is something that I can’t handle, if not I would not have taken the job. It’s about me gelling the guys together and getting the best out of everybody.” He added: “It is something I am looking forward to. I’ve done it a little bit in the one-day arena and it is
about translating that into the Test arena now. I’ve obviously led teams before, I’ve led Barbados in youth cricket and I’ve led West Indies-A teams and stuff like that so I’m not in a sense new to it. “It is something that I’ve handled in the past before and I don’t expect to falter in this arena in a sense. I’m really looking forward to it, I’m always up for the challenge and I will try to take it on as best as I possibly can.” Holder’s rise has been meteoric since his international debut just over two years ago, and has become an entrenched member of West Indies in all formats of the game. Picked for his bowling, he has pressed his case as a genuine all-rounder with a maiden Test century against England in Antigua last April and an unbeaten 82 against the touring Australians in Kingston last June. Holder said, however, he did not envision the burden of captaincy getting in the way of his continued development as a cricketer. “It is international cricket, it is international sport. You have to expect these things (leadership roles) as they always come up in international sport,” he told journalists. “It’s more responsibility but I don’t think that should impede my cricket. My cricket is at heart first. I have to play as a cricketer first and lead the guys afterward and I think once I do
that, I don’t think it (captaincy) should get in the way of my actual cricket.” He continued: “I always look up to the big occasions. I think that’s where you’re remembered. People really remember you on the big stage at the big moments. If I can put my hand up the majority of times in those situations I think I can leave something behind and people can look back and say, ‘I remember Jason Holder for this particular scenario or as a particular individual;.” Appointed ODI captain last December and having presided over a World Cup campaign that saw the Windies reach the quarter-finals before bowing out, Holder said he was hoping to build on the work he had started with the one-day unit. “It’s been a short stint so far as one-day captain. I think over a period of time I think you would get a good analysis of how I’ve been,” he said. “Thus far I’ve had pretty good relationships with most of the guys in the dressing room and I can see it building over the next few months and hopefully in years to come. But as I said, it is about getting the relationship building among one another and moving forward as one collective unit.” Holder’s first assignment will be the tour of Sri Lanka which comprises two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals, and runs from October 8 to November 12.
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER Compliments of THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market &The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & CUMMINGS ELECTRICAL CO. LTD-83 Garnette Street, Campbellville (Tel: 225-6158; 223-6055)
Answers to yesterday’s quiz:
(1) George Headley-176 (WI vs ENG, Barbados, 1930) (2) Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hassan-201 wickets (BB: 4/16 vs WI, Chittagong, 2011)
Today’s Quiz:
(1) Who is the first WI to make a debut hundred in an overseas Test? (2) Who has captained the WI in most ODIs to date? How many? Answers in tomorrow’s issue