COMMONWEALTH GAMES ASSOCIATION OF JERSEY - UNITED BY THE MOMENT

Team Jersey, the opening ceremony, Pune, near Mumbai, India for the 3rd
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Media Release from Pune - 17th October 2008

Today is warm, sunny and dry again. This is the weather we were promised! We were back to the swimming pool again this morning for the final day of swimming competition. First up was Charlotte Manning in the 200 breaststroke and she fulfilled her potential in this event by reaching the final in 2.50, which is just outside her personal best. We will now return this evening for our first finalist in the swimming competition. JJ Gallichan continued his improvement by creating yet another personal best and also by winning his heat in the 50 free in 25.28, but it was not enough for him to reach the final as the later heats were faster. Brother Tom had two swims this morning in the 50 free and 50 back but did not improve on his personal bests and Emma Glendening swam the 50 free without improving her time either.

The surprise of the Games has been the emergence of the Indian athletes in general, which can be seen from them heading the medals table. Whilst it was probably expected in some sports, I do not think many would have anticipated their improvement in the pool and the athletics track. They won both 4x400 relays on the track last night and have been very competitive in nearly all events. They have the advantage of fielding a full team in most events, which helps, but their emergence has now been noticed and will not be such a surprise next time. It may also be interesting to see how they perform in the Isle of Man in 2011.

Most of the Jersey contingent moved across to the centre court at tennis to give support to Heather Watson in the ladies singles against the Indian lady in her semi-final. We reached the match when it was into the second set, but we were happy to add to the Guernsey contingent, which was vastly outnumbered by the partisan Indian crowd. Heather went on to win her match and will now appear in the showpiece final tomorrow morning, which is likely to be the last competitive event before the Closing Ceremony tomorrow night. This will be another 5 hour marathon spectacular, although most of our athletes and officials will be seated this time, so they can at least watch the whole show rather than missing out as they did for the opening ceremony. We are also pleased to announce that Charlie Cohen has been asked to be the Jersey flag bearer at the closing ceremony in respect of his excellent performances in the tennis competition against some very good opposition.
It is quite clear that competition is nearly over as the noise level has increased dramatically and there are many requests for some late shopping trips. The Jersey team is due to arrive back in Jersey on Sunday night at 7.45pm providing all flights are on time and we are sure the dramatic difference of temperatures between here and there will be felt!

16th October 2008

Today began at the pool in another glorious sunny day. It seems the monsoon rains have now gone.

First up was Charlotte Manning in the 200 IM, which was closely followed by the 100 breaststroke and which produced a time close to her personal best. Neither swim was good enough to make a final, but the pool does not appear to be particularly fast. JJ Gallichan then competed in his 100 free in a new personal best of just over 54 seconds, but even that was not good enough for him to reach the final. The Indian swimmer, who went to Beijing broke the Games record in his heat, which just shows the level of competition at this event. Tom Gallichan and Emma Glendening also swam in the 200 back this morning together with JJ Gallichan, but were unable to improve any personal best times.

Most of the team are now relaxing and watching all the other events in these fantastic venues. We just have one more day of competition for the Jersey swimmers tomorrow and then we will be looking to the closing ceremony and plans to return to Jersey on Sunday evening. It will be a long haul with our scheduled departure time from the village at 1am! In the meantime we shall try to catch up on some sleep, rest and try and prepare for our long journey home.

15th October 2008

Today’s activity started at the swimming pool with all four swimmers having swims. JJ Gallichan was first up and completed his 200 free in a personal best time of 1 minute 57 seconds and was made first reserve for the final tonight, but didn’t get that other swim. Charlotte Manning produced a personal best in the 50 metres breaststroke but it wasn’t good enough for a final place. Tom Gallichan and Emma Glendening were disappointed with their swims and hope for improvement tomorrow.

Charlie Cohen resumed his singles competition and found himself up against a seasoned much older Kiwi. Charlie began well and surprised his opponent by leading 4v3 in the first set before losing it 6v4. The Kiwi then exerted his authority on the match and won the second set 6v2. Although Charlie was disappointed, he still had the doubles match with Scott Clayton later in the day against the Indian number one seeds on the prestigious centre court. This, however, proved to be men against boys with the Indian pair winning the first two games to love and then becoming eventual winners by 6v2, 6v1. Charlie and Scott have a good tournament and should be proud of their efforts.

It was then over to the athletics stadium to firstly watch Jenna Murphy in the High Jump. She did exceptionally well equalling her personal best of 1.65 and beating a number of highly rated athletes and finishing in seventh place. She was then followed by Zane Duquemin, who had a difficult competition after injuring himself in the first round and, as a result, having 3 no throws in his allotted allocation. He still finished in a creditable 6th place, only headed by two Aussies, two Indians and an Englishman. A fine effort in difficult circumstances.

With the tennis and athletics now finished for the Jersey competitors, it just leaves the swimmers to continue competing over the next two days and it is hoped that they might spring a surprise or two before the team returns to Jersey at the weekend.

All members of Team Jersey are most grateful to Sanne Group for their sponsorship and to ESC for its grant to allow them to attend the Games

Pune Media Release 12th October | Pune Media Release 11th October | Pune Media Release 10th October

Pune Media Release 9th October

Welcome to the Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey

This Association is committed to supporting the hopes and aspirations of Jersey's elite athletes in fulfilling their potential on the world stage of international sport. We aim to provide 21st Century back-up and technical advice to our sportspeople. In this aim, we are dependent on a healthy partnership with Local Government, the business sector and the public of Jersey at large. We recognize the vital importance of encouraging our young sportspeople in their development. To this end, we are determined to ensure the presence of a suitably qualified team at each Commonwealth Youth Games as well as the fullest participation at each 4 yearly Commonwealth Games.

Please enjoy the information that is provided on this website.

We urge all Islanders to participate in supporting our athletes in their search for excellence at this highest level of sporting competition.

Martin Hebden

President, Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey