Taylor
DEFENDING champions Jamaica, despite an injury to one of their key players, are still confident of positive results when they undertake a two-match assignment in the Caribbean Under-16 Netball Championships at the Arnos Vale Courts in St Vincent & the Grenadines today.
They will rise early to open the defence of their title against Guyana at 8:00 a.m. then take on Cayman Islands in the second encounter at 6:00 p.m.
Jamaica were originally scheduled to play St Kitts then Dominica but neither of the two teams turned up at the championship thus causing the fixture to be re-arranged.
The fixture is not the only thing being adjusted. The team's starting line-up will have to be re-arranged as well after centre Yoki-Ann Taylor injured her left hand while playing in the rally match against St Vincent & the Grenadines on Sunday.
Taylor collided into an opposing player and had to sit out the rest of the game.
"We think it might be broken (Taylor's hand) but we can't really say by just looking at it. The nurse is here examining it right now but we may have to have an x-ray done on it to see how badly it is damaged," team manager Cora Ricketts told the GLEANER yesterday.
The other members of the team, Ricketts reported, are doing well.
Jamaica, if they maintain rally form are predicted to win the two encounters easily.
"We have two games today and none of the teams are a threat really. We've never seen Guyana in action but we don't think they are a threat. Cayman have improved based on what we saw in the rally but they still will not pose a challenge either," Ricketts said.
In the opening rally, Jamaica blanked Antigua & Barbuda 10-0 then went on to beat St Vincent & the Grenadines 10-5. The rains came soon after and prevented them from inflicting further harm to the other teams.
Eight other games are on today but at press time the fixture was still incomplete.
