England's Mark Lewis-Francis (right) looks behind as he nears the finish line, followed by Kim Collins (second right) from St. Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica's Michael Frater (second left) and Canada's Anson Henry (left) trail in the men's 100m Round Two, Heat Two in the 2002 Commonwealth Games at the City of Manchester Stadium yesterday. Lewis-Francis won the race in 10.13 seconds. - ReutersElton Tucker, Assistant Sport Editor
MANCHESTER, England
VERONICA CAMPBELL appears set to give Jamaica's contingent here their first medal of the XVII Commonwealth Games.
Campbell won her first round 100 metres heat in impressive fashion yesterday and enters today's semi-finals with the fourth fastest time, 11.32, behind the Bahamian pair of Debbie Ferguson, who looked really good in clocking 11.23, and Sevatheda Fynes 11.30. Sri Lanka's world-rated Susanthika Jayansinghe did 11.27 in winning heat three.
The Jamaican national champion was seen doing her best work at the end after an unimpressive start and her top-end speed should put her among the medals.
"I feel great right now but I think the start was not that good because I am race rusty because I have not competed since the trials in June. I still have two more rounds to go so we will see what happens," Campbell said. Jamaica will have a second semi-finalist in Peta Gay Beckford who clocked 11.75 for third in Ferguson's heat.
Three Jamaicans will face the starter in the men's 100m semi-finals.
Asafa Powell leads the Jamaican qualifiers with a personal best 10.28 behind Nigeria's Aliu Deji, 10.16, in second round heat four.
The English pair of Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis appear on target to decide the gold. Jamaica's national champion Dwight Thomas is drawing some inspiration from the two duels he has had with gold medal favourite Chambers.
"That will help me to work on my confidence for the final. I have been able to 'feel him out' in each round and to see his running style," Thomas who clocked 10.30 in the second round said.
Though happy with his time, Powell said he still had to improve on his start.
"The first round was quite easy but in the second round I did not get a start. The personal best is good but I could have gone faster. Now I am in the semi-finals I am looking forward to the final," the 20-year-old said.
Lewis-Francis had the fastest time on the day, 10.13, Aliu was next with 10.16, Chambers 10.17 and St. Kitts and Nevis' Kim Collins 10.20.
Defending women's 400m champion Sandie Richards is on a golden mission.
She cruised into the second round of the one-lap event and then declared she was ready to successfully defend her title.
Richards clocked 53.29 seconds to top heat three. She barely went above jogging pace to join Allison Beckford who posted 52.29 to register the fastest first round time. With Ronetta Smith getting the fourth fastest time a historic medal sweep is possible in tomorrow's final.
Richards oozed confidence after her race.
"I am the defending champion, I am here to defend my title and if I get through all the rounds injury free I have a great chance," she said.
National champion Michael Blackwood and Sanjay Ayre will lead Jamaica's charge in the men's 400m semi-finals. Pete Coley ran a disappointing second round and was eliminated after placing sixth in heat three in 47.03.
Blackwood clocked 46.07 for second in heat one behind Eric Milazar who did 46.02. Ayre was also second, beaten on the line by Canada's Shane Niemi. Both were credited with 46.49. Coley's heat went to Bahamian Avard Moncur in 46.11. In other results yesterday, Jamaica swamped Barbados 65-20 in Pool B of the netball competition. Elaine Davis had 28 goals from 40 attempts and Simone Forbes 37 from 44.
Heavyweight boxer Kerron Speid was awarded a 5-0 decision over Northern Ireland's Shane Curran and advances to the second round where he will fight New Zealand's Shane Cameron. In table tennis, Jamaica went down twice in Group D matches losing 2-3 to Mauritius and 0-3 to New Zealand.
In squash men's singles action, Jamaica's James Bullock was beaten 3-1 (9-7, 2-9, 9-4, 9-4) by Sri Lanka's Saman Thilakarathna while Wayne Prescod lost 3-0 (9-0, 9-4, 9-2) to the tournament's 10th seed Chris Walker of England.
