Minister Grange was speaking specifically about the National Junior Golfers, who finished second at the Caribbean Amateur Junior Golf Championship in Barbados, as well as individual team displays at the International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) US Open World Martial Arts Championships in Florida.

“There is so much that happened over the weekend that could have overshadowed the performances by our national teams. There was Wimbledon, in which Serena Williams won the women’s single title in record fashion and the Euro 2016 football final,” Minister Grange said.

She further added, “While all that was happening our junior golfers gave us much to cheer about and so I must commend coach Jason Lopez, players and the entire management staff for the work that they have put in,” the Minister said.

Jamaica had its 10-year stranglehold on the ISKA Gold Cup broken as they were edged 6-5 on aggregate by New Zealand in the final on the opening day of competition last Thursday.

However, Jamaica took the tournament by storm the following day with the junior martial artists securing 22 medals, inclusive of 10 gold, five silver and seven bronze attained across four categories and could surpassed the 88 medals they won last year.

The three-man team of Kenneth Edwards, Nicholas Dusard and Richard Stone shrugged off their disappointment in the Gold Cup defeat by trouncing the United States of America 3-0 to win the team gold medal in continuous sparring.

“Both junior and senior players from the martial arts, taekwon-Do, karate and seido have been flying the Jamaican flag really high over the past year. I have been following their impressive progress and the success is inspiring to say the least,” said the Sport Minister.

She added, “The junior programme is very strong, thanks to the high school league organized by the Jamaica Taekwon-Do Association and given their performance so far at the US Open, I would not be surprised if they eclipse the 88 medals they brought home last year.”

Minister Grange also expressed that she was pleased by the performances of the senior men who were undaunted after losing narrowly in the Gold Cup.

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