MARLAND NATTIE was yesterday returned overwhelmingly as president of the Jamaica Basketball Association (JABA) to serve another two-year term.

Nattie defeated the challenge of Pete Matthews 19-3 to retain his position as head of the association. Donald Jackson, the other presidential candidate, did not receive any votes.

Clifton Lumsden (17 votes), Nina Dixon (15) and Dennis Gardner (16) were voted in as the deputy presidents.

Winston Harvey defeated Calvin Martin 18-4, while Gail Harris beat Roxanne Haughton by a similar margin for the posts of secretary and assistant secretary respectively.

Pauline Richards beat Kevin Alexander 17-5 and Jennifer Morgan Walker defeated Michael Martin 19-3 for the positions of treasurer and assistant treasurer respectively.

Oberon Pitterson, Dwight Frater and Cora Ricketts, with 19 votes each, are the committee members.

A win was expected

Nattie said he was a little surprised by the margin of victory, but claimed, based on his work over the year, a win was expected.

"Having shown them the commitment over the years and them (delegates) seeing the growth - not to only the Corporate Area but nationally - it was only up to them to make that (right) decision," he said.

Matthews was disappointed and quite stunned by the final tally.

"The margin is what I am surprised about, because the persons who were eligible to vote were the people who expressed their disgust in some situation with the things that were happening in basketball," Matthews said.