Twelve for Carib Darts Champs

Adrian Frater, News Editor, Western Bureau:

FORMER CARIBBEAN singles champions Hubert 'Tenge' Brown and his female counterpart Deanna Marsh were among eight men and four women selected to represent Jamaica in the upcoming 15th Caribbean Dart Championship, which will be staged in Barbados from July 12-24.

The team, which features a numbers of overseas based players, including the seasoned Brown, who is based in South Florida and now campaigns on the popular US Dart circuit, was selected following Sunday's Jamaica Darts Association (JDA) one-day trials at the Montego Bay Cricket Club Building, in St. James.

"I think we have an excellent group of players and I am quite confident that we will do well at the championship," said JDA President Birthright, who is among the eight players selected for the male team. "I think we have an excellent chance of winning the overall team title as well as the male and female singles titles."

The star-studded female team, an experienced all-Montego Bay aggregation, consists, of reigning national singles champion Deanna Marsh, former national champion Jennifer Reid, the exciting Mernel Brown-Cooke, who was one of the stars of the trials; and the durable veteran player Norma Bowen.

"I think we have an excellent female team and I would be disappointed if we did not dominate the championship," said Marsh, who has been campaigning on the international circuit within recent years. "The fact that we are all based in Montego Bay will help our preparation for the championship."

THE TOP PLAYER

The male team, which features Brown, who was arguably the top player in the Caribbean for most of the 1980s and 1990s, Birthright, Lynford Jonas, Ralph Clunie, Albert Bailey, Anthony Johnson and the Florida-based Dane and Rodney Clarke (not related) is also quite solid as all the players have considerable experience.

"The players are all quite experienced and once we prepare properly, I see no reason why we should not do well," said Brown. "In the 15-year history of the championship, we have been overall champions nine times and I believe that, based on the all-round strength of this team, we should be making it championship number ten this year."

While Birthright is confident about the team's ability to do well at the championship, he is somewhat worried that the perennial problem of securing quality sponsorship might affect both their preparation and getting to the championship with the full team that has been selected.

"Sponsorship has been one of our major problems over the years as help has not always been readily available from corporate Jamaica," said Birthright. "Our record over the years has been quite good so I hope that potential sponsors will look at and assist us in whatever way they can."