Sport

No surprises in Jamaica's World Champs team

Bev McDonald - file

THERE WERE NO surprises in the 51-member team named yesterday for the August 6-14 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The 25-member men's team is led by the ailing world 100m record holder Asafa Powell and the 26 women by Athens Olympics double gold medallist Veronica Campbell.

Powell is still troubled by a persistent groin injury which forced him to pull up in the London Grand Prix last Friday. He is now being treated by German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt. According to a BBC report yesterday Powell's agent Paul Doyle said the 22-year-old sprinter is likely to be below 100 per cent for the Helsinki meet.

Campbell advertised her well-being with a 11.12 seconds 100m victory in the Helsinki Stadium on Monday.

The women's sprint relay team which is strongly favoured to add world championships gold to the Olympic title they won last year will be missing regular starter Tayna Lawrence.

Lawrence who withdrew from the recent Central American and Caribbean Senior Champ-ionships held in the Bahamas is still trouble d by an injury and was not named in yesterday's team.

There are still adequate replacements. Beverly McDonald who ran in the first round in Athens last year but was dropped for the final is the most likely replacement. The 35-year-old McDonald, a veteran of the Jamaican team, will be attending her eighth World Championships. She was a member of the quartet which struck gold at the Tokyo World Championships in 1991. That quartet - Dahlia Duhaney, Juliet Cuthbert, McDonald and Merlene Ottey - clocked a national record 41.94 seconds.