Alia beats the heat to win second gold

Swimmer Alia Atkinson secured Jamaica's second gold medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia after winning the women's 50 metres butterfly last night.

Atkinson won the event in 26.60 seconds. The 29-year-old captured Jamaica's first gold on Friday night when she won the 100m breaststroke in a Games record 1:06.83.

"I'm starting to feel the effects of the dehydration and heat, so hopefully I can continue and get better as it goes along," said Atkinson after her victory. "The medical staff here and the physio are excellent so it should work," she noted of the near 100 degrees heat at daytime."

Commenting on her race, Atkinson noted: "It was a bit harder that I thought. It wasn't as clean as I thought it would have been but hopefully in the future we'll get it better for the finals. It was more of the effects of the dehydration and the tightening of the muscles."

Jamaica's female footballers suffered their second straight defeat at the Games when they went down 2-1 to Costa Rica. Striker Khadija Shaw scored the lone goal for the Reggae Girlz in the 57th minute.

Jamaica's men's hockey team went down 1-0 to Barbados in their opening match yesterday. They will face Cuba in their second match tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Jamaica's female basketballers will seeking their first win of the Games when they face the US Virgin Island at 3:30 p.m. today.

- R.B.