Despite heavy rains in Triplicane in the evening - Dindigul Dragons, powered by skipper Ravichandran Ashwin’s brilliant batting and inspirational leadership, clinched its maiden TNPL crown with a six-wicket win over Lyca Kovai Kings in the final at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.At Colombo - Jeffrey Vandersay, a legspinner, ripped through the heart of India's batting, taking out Rohit, Shubman Gill, Shivam Dube, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul in the space of 29 balls from his end as 97 for no loss became 147 for 6.
No post on Cricket but one on a Olympic Gold, a first for the Nation !!
In 1493, Christopher Columbus first spotted the island during his second voyage to the Americas. Because he saw the island on a Sunday (November 3, 1493), Columbus named the island Dominica (Latin for 'Sunday'). Some Spanish colonisers settled here. But, as European explorers and settlers entered the region, indigenous refugees from surrounding islands settled Dominica and pushed out the Spanish settlers. Spain had little success in colonising Dominica. In 1632, the French Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique claimed it and other "Petites Antilles" for France, but no physical occupation took place. It is island Nation Dominica !!
There is great jubilation in the Caribbean on Sunday after St Lucian sprinter Julian Alfred and Dominican triple jumper Thea LaFond secured their countries’ first ever medals, both Golds.
From entering the Games as a little-known competitor, Julian Alfred demonstrated immense athletics prowess by winning the women’s 100-metre finals on Saturday, in 10.72sec. The 23-year-old left her opponents and the world stunned and won the hearts of St Lucians as she outshone the US’s Sha’Carri Richardson, who captured silver.
But this is more on Dominica !in 1831, reflecting a liberalisation of official British racial attitudes, the Brown Privilege Bill conferred political and social rights on free blacks (mostly free people of colour, who generally were of mixed race, with African and European ancestry. With the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Britain ended the institution of slavery throughout its empire, except in India. Many slaves from the neighbouring French colonial islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique fled to Dominica. Until 1958, Dominica was governed as part of the British Windward Islands. Caribbean islands sought independence from 1958 to 1962, and Dominica became a province of the short-lived West Indies Federation in 1958. After the federation dissolved in 1962, Dominica became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967, and formally took responsibility for its internal affairs. On 3 November 1978, the Commonwealth of Dominica was granted independence as a Republic.
Cricket is a popular sport on the island, Dominica competes in test cricket as part of the West Indies cricket team. In West Indies domestic first-class cricket, Dominica participates as part of the Windward Islands cricket team, although they are often considered a part of the Leeward Islands geographically.
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games has seen a number of firsts, especially for islands in the Caribbean Sea.First, Julien Alfred won Saint Lucia’s first ever Olympic medal when she won gold in the women’s 100-meter final. Thea LaFond, won gold in the women’s triple jump, a first for the island of Dominica. An impressive achievement considering the island doesn’t even have an athletics track.
Only recently in Mar 2024LaFond became the first person from Dominica to win a World Championship gold medal, after taking first place in women's triple jump at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships, setting a national record of 15.01 m. She won her country's first ever Olympic medal when she took gold at the Paris Games, setting a new national record record of 15.02 metres in the process.
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit. The triple jump was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games' inception in 1896.
LaFond is married to Aaron Gadson, who is also her coach.They live in Maryland.
A web search reveals that the island Dominica has a Cricket ground – Roseau where India played a Test match on July 2011 – the match was drawn with Ishant Sharma taking a five for. Dominica is different from Dominica Republic, which is a North American country on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.
With regards – S Sampathkumar
5th Aug 2024.