Ja’s Evans just misses out on medal

On their debut international assignment, Jamaica sent three athletes to the Junior Pan American Karate Championships in Mexico City and Rasandre Evans made the biggest impact by making it to the third-place play-off.

However, the 12 year-old fell just short of putting Jamaica on the podium for the under-14 age group and under-40kg weight category.

Despite falling short, Evans said he is pleased with his performance at the tournament which ended on Sunday.

“I feel good about my performance because it was a very big tournament and I did very well for my first Pan American Championships,” he said. “The biggest lesson I have learned from the competition is to not panic when losing and to keep calm. I really wanted to put Jamaica in the finals and I was happy to be leading on points in the beginning of the semi-final match and became very aggressive when I started losing instead of using my tactics. I’ll know what to do next time.”

Evans won his first two rounds but lost 4:1 in the semi-finals to his Brazilian opponent. He then went on to compete for the bronze medal against a Peruvian opponent but his attempt to claim third place was unsuccessful as he was beaten 2:0.

Head coach Valentyna Zolotarova said there were a number of calls that she felt should have gone in favour of Evans that could have bettered his chances of winning a medal, but she said she is still pleased with the team’s overall performance at the championships.

“The team surpassed all expectations. No one expected one of our kids to make the semi-finals on our first attempt at the Pan American Championships,” she said.

Amelia Stephenson who competed in the girls’ under-16/17 under-59kg weight category and Shafan Leslie who competed in the male under-68kg weight category lost in the first round.

Zolotarova said more international competitions for the junior team will provide them with opportunities to develop the programme.

“We need to keep participating, keep fighting and keep giving our kids exposure to international competitions and training,” she said.

All three athletes are participating in a 10-day international training camp which started yesterday at the Mexico Olympic Training Centre.

“The training camp here in Mexico is a step in the right direction. Now we have to work even harder because other countries have now seen some of our fighters and will be better prepared to compete against us in the next event. It is a constant evolution. We have to work hard and be creative,” Zolotarova said.