Belize Shines on the International Stage  

Good evening, Belize. I’m Shane Williams with another exciting edition of Sports Monday brought to you by the National Sports Council of Belize. This week, we look beyond our borders to spotlight Belizean excellence on the global stage. Let’s begin in the Dominican Republic where Belize is competing in the Central American and Caribbean Games in sailing, beach volleyball, cycling and basketball.

 

On Saturday, the Belize National Basketball Team had a chance at revenge against the Nicaraguan team that took the gold medal last year in the Central American U-19 Championships. This time with its full roster which was carefully put together over four years by the Belize Basketball Federation.

 

Jacob Leslie, President, Belize Basketball Federation

“Rather than a ready-made kinda foundation, I wanted to build something. So I thought the best way to do it was to identify the best age group that we have currently and to build them up to being our senior national team and then going back and finding next generation and then building a system where we continue pull and develop our local athletes and create opportunities for them. Because every time they come on these stages, there, there’s a lot of eyes that are looking at them, whether it be high school or colleges or otherwise, and I think that’s the, the role of the federation, to really create opportunities for our athletes to expand in the game of basketball and in life.”

 

Four of Belize’s starters were missing at the Central American Games last year in Guatemala City. They shared in the loss as deeply as their brothers on the court.

 

Jacob Leslie

“I say it all the time, it’s a special group. It’s a group of guys who genuinely love playing with each other and being with each other. So we’ve… They’ve created a chat group that they’ve been competing in and that they’ve been participating in since 2022, and they’re active in there. So they continue talk. They know what everybody’s doing where they’re going to school, so the guys genuinely have that bond.”

 

And that bond made them take Saturday’s game personally, quickly blowing open the game against the Central American Champs before calling off the dogs to ease into a nineteen-point opening game win. Tuesday night’s matchup against host country Dominican Republic will be their biggest test of the round.

 

Jacob Leslie

“I think now, four years into it, it’s starting to really take its course where they now know after competing three years at this level that we can compete. They now have that confidence that they can compete with these bigger countries, and I think that’s where we are right now.”

 

The game starts six-thirty Belize time.

 

Staying in the Dominican Republic, in other Central American and Caribbean Games performances Nelissa Ramirez and Clara Sabal are one and one in group stage after defeating the US Virgin Islands and falling to the Dominican Republic. Ernest Broaster and Francis Hauze are zero and two after losing to Cuba and El Salvador in their first two matches on the beach.

 

In the individual Time Trial in cycling, the talented young Derrick Chavarria could not finish the route after battling with an ailment entering the race. Hopefully, he will be better in time to join Jyven Gonzalez in the road race on Sunday. Moving on to Glasgow, Scotland for the Commonwealth Games where Belizeans are competing in athletics, swimming and cycling.

 

Davia Richardson gave impressive performances in both her opening heats, finishing second in the one-hundred-meter freestyle and achieving her personal best to finish second in the fifty-meter butterfly. In the one-hundred-meter race, Nyasha Harris fell a little short of her personal best to finish fifth in her heat.

 

In Costa Rica, for the Central America Tennis Confederation U-10 Championships, ten-year-old Armaan Sugnani and nine-year-old John Habet are proudly representing the Jewel in the region.

 

 

Before we close off, we have to say a huge congratulations to the winners of the Belize District Marconi Leal Softball Men Champions Wolfpack, after an impressive comeback victory against the Guardian Bombers Sunday in beautiful Crooked Tree Village. The Bombers will have their chance to seek revenge in the National Championships scheduled for this weekend at the brand-new softball field in Camalote Village.

 

That’s all we have for you this week. This edition of Sports Monday was once again brought to you by the National Sports Council. I’m Shane Williams reminding you that friendly competition unites and balling is life so keep balling Belize.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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