BY KRISHNA MISTRY

The twenty-year-old tennis star, Coco Gauff has secured her spot on the 2024 US Olympic team. Gauff has accumulated enough points to guarantee her spot in the Olympics.

In tennis, the rankings of the men’s and women’s tours determine who will qualify for the Olympics. These rankings are based on the points that players have accumulated from June 11^th, 2023, to June 10^th, 2024, right after the French Open. Then players are drawn for both the men’s and women’s tournament, each with sixty-four players, fifty-six based on their rankings. All nations are limited to four players in each tournament.

So even if Gauff loses all her matches up till June 10^th, she will still have enough points to qualify and compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Gauff has shared her excitement as this will be her first Olympics.

Gauff was supposed to attend the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but unfortunately, she tested positive for COVID-19, which caused her to forfeit her spot on the team. This year, Gauff will be attending the 2024 Paris Olympics as a singles competitor alongside players like Danielle Collins and Frances Tiafoe.

Earlier this year, Gauff had shared that one of her goals was to win an Olympic medal, “One of the goals I wrote down on my vision thing, vision note, in my phone, was to win a medal in the Olympics,” She also shares that though slams titles are amazing to have, she would love to have either a: gold, silver or bronze Olympics medal.

This year, Gauff has attended nine tournaments, some of her recent ones being: the Madrid Open, the Italian Open and the French Open. This year, Gauff made it to the finals in most of the tournaments that she competed in, but unfortunately, she was not able to win.

During the French Open, Gauff qualified for the semi-finals where she competed against Polish tennis player, Iga Świątek. Unfortunately, Gauff lost the first set two to six and lost the second set four to six. This was a controversial game, as Gauff called a change in tennis after the umpire’s decision.

Gauff had a dispute with the umpire, Aurélie Tourte, where Tourte had overruled a call, which benefited Świątek in the semi-final. During the match, the line judge called Świątek’s serve “out,” but the umpire overruled the decision, changing the call to “in,” causing Gauff to break down crying. Gauff was extremely upset and claimed that she did not return the service due to the original call.

After the match, Gauff shared her opinion on this matter with CNN, “Tennis is the only sport where not only we don’t have the VR system, but a lot of times the decisions are made by one person. In other sports there are usually multiple refs making a decision, I know the U.S. Open brought some of it last year, I believe, I know we used it in our doubles at one point. I definitely think at this point it’s almost ridiculous we don’t have it. Not just speaking because that happened to me, but I just think every sport has it.”

During the match, Gauff advocated for herself, which cost her the match. She unfortunately did lose the match, but this would not affect her place on the Olympic team as she has enough points.

The 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris, France from June 26^th to August 11^th, where a total of forty sports will be played. The summer Olympics will have ten thousand and five hundred athletes competing from two hundred and six NOCs. NOCs are the National Olympic Committees. In the Olympic Games, no countries compete, but rather committees pick athletes from their respective countries. Tickets are currently on sale on the Olympics’ official website. Get your tickets soon to guarantee a summer filled with fun activities and amazing experiences.

BY KRISHNA MISTRY

The three-time Olympic gold medalist, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, will be retiring after the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Jamaican athlete began her international career in 2007 and ran her first hundred-meter race at an international level at the Jamaican National Senior Championships, where she placed fifth with a time of 11.31 seconds.

Although Fraser-Pryce did not qualify for the 2007 Osaka World Championship, she was selected as a reserve for Jamaica’s 4 x 100 meters relay team. This helped her to gain more exposure and experience on an international level.

Fraser-Pryce once again competed in the hundred-meter event at the Jamaican Olympic trial in 2008, where she had a breakthrough and came second place, with a time of 10.85 seconds. She then qualified for the 2008 Olympics, but many considered her inexperienced for the Olympics and tried to swap her with Campbell-Brown and petitioned with the Jamaican Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). However, the JAAA upheld their rule of allowing the top three finishers onto the team.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fraser-Pryce won gold in the one-hundred-meter event with a time of 10.78 seconds, making her the first Caribbean woman to win gold in the one-hundred-meter event in the Olympics.

The following year, Fraser-Pryce proved herself once again by capturing gold in the one-hundred-meter event at the 2009 Berlin World Championship with a time of 10.73 seconds, despite being injured earlier in the season and having an appendectomy. Later in June, she ran at the Jamaican Championships with a time of 10.88 seconds and received her first one-hundred-meter title.

In June 2010, Fraser-Pryce received a six-month suspension after a urine sample was taken at the Shanghai Diamond League, as she tested positive for oxycodone, which is banned as a narcotic. Fraser-Pryce insisted that the cause of her positive result was due to a medication her coach had provided for a toothache. She then resumed her competitions in early 2011 and her track results from 2010 were invalid.

In 2013, Fraser-Pryce showed her consistency as an athlete when she became the first woman to win the one-hundred-meter, two-hundred-meter, and the 4 x 100-meter events. She started the season early and within a few months, she secured wins in the Diamond League in Shanghai, Eugene, and Paris in the one-hundred-meter events and a victory in Doha in the two-hundred-meter event.

Fraser-Pryce received her third one-hundred-meter world title at the 2015 Beijing World Championships. In the finals, Fraser-Pryce got an amazing start and won with a time of 10.76 seconds, adding to her two titles from Berlin (2013) and Moscow (2008).

In 2017, Fraser-Pryce announced her pregnancy and was not able to defend her title at the 2017 World Championships held in London. She came back ready to win. Fraser-Pryce has won a total of eight Olympic medals, three being gold, four silver and one bronze, sixteen medals that are World Championship level and many other events she has attended throughout her career. She has achieved thirty-two medals throughout her professional career.

Recently, Fraser-Pryce disclosed her career’s future plans with ESPN as well as shared this news on Facebook. She shared that she will be retiring after the 2024 Paris Olympics to focus on family. Fraser-Pryce told ESPN, “My son needs me. My husband and I have been together since before I won in 2008. He has sacrificed for me.” Ten-time World Champion will be competing in her fifth and final Olympics.

The 2024 Paris Olympics begin on June 26^th and ends on August 11^th, and events where we can expect Fraser-Pryce to be competing will be the one-hundred-meter event, the two-hundred-meter event and the 4 x 100-meter event.

BY KRISHNA MISTRY

The West Indies men’s cricket team announced their jam-packed schedule, with three major tournaments from May to December. They will play in three international home tournaments against: England, South Africa and Bangladesh.

The home tour will begin with South Africa’s welcome in West Indies, where they will play three matches in the T20 International (T20I), which will be held in Jamaica from May 23^rd to May 26^th. The T20 International is the shortest format of a game at the international level, where teams play a maximum of twenty overs.

The West Indies will then be travelling to England for the Test tour in July. After their return, the Proteas, the South African cricket team, will tour again to the West Indies where they will play two test matches in Trinidad and Guyana, along with three T20I matches at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad, prior to the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

After the white ball tour held in Sri Lanka in October, West Indies will welcome England to the Caribbean for the white ball tour consisting of three CG United One Day Internationals (ODI) and five T20I matches. The ODI is a one-day match, where both teams have a maximum of fifty overs.

Two out of three ODI matches will be held in Antigua from October 31^st to November 2^nd. The third ODI match will be held in Barbados alongside two T20I matches from November 6^th to November 10^th. Lastly, the three T20I matches will be held in St. Lucia from November 14^th to November 17^th.

Bangladesh will complete this exciting year, with eight matches arriving in the Caribbean. They will play two test matches in Antigua and Jamaica from November 22^nd to December 4^th. They will also be playing three ODI matches in St. Kitts from December 8^th to December 11^th, and to end the year off, they will be playing three T20I matches in St. Vincent from December 15^th to December 19^th.

The West Indies cricket team, known for their strong pace attack and explosive batting lineup, are ready to face their opponents with determination and style. Whether it’s competing against traditional powerhouses like England and Australia or engaging in fierce rivalries with neighbouring nations like India and Pakistan, every test match promises thrilling excitement and intense drama.

The West Indies team seems very excited about this schedule and cannot wait. Caribbean West Indies chief executive, Johnny Grave shares the excitement that they feel, “We are delighted to announce our West Indies Men’s Home Series for the remainder of the year that will welcome South Africa, England and Bangladesh to eight of our host countries in the West Indies, including Saint Vincent for the first time since 2012. With significant improvements being made to the National Stadium in Grenada and Windsor Park in Dominica we were unable to host international cricket there this year, but we are already looking forward to returning to both venues in 2025.”

The Caribbean opens its doors for all cricket fans to enjoy a year filled with cricket. Tickets are available to purchase online for the first series against South Africa in Jamaica as well as purchase tickets for the England tour later this year with the West Indies official travel partners.

All other tickets are expected to go on sale in July after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The T20 World Cup will be held from June 1^st to June 29^th, where eight matches will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua and Barbuda. Get your ticket as soon as possible to watch these thrilling matches before they sell out.