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Bermuda’s golden girls

Champions: Bermuda's senior women football team with their gold medals at the Island Games (Photograph supplied)

Bermuda signed off in style at the Island Games in Guernsey, as the all-conquering senior women’s football team and golfer Ebonie Cox claimed gold on the final day.

The women’s team got the day off to the perfect start as a brace from LeiLanni Nesbeth and further goals from Jya Ratteray-Smith and Akeyla Fur-
bert, sealed a comprehensive 4-0 success over Western Isles, to claim Bermuda’s first gold of the Games.

The result capped a sensational run for Bermuda, in which they scored 15 times and finished without goalkeeper Zakhari Turner conceding a goal, as the women’s team made a triumphant return to the Games, having also won gold the last time they took part in the competition on home soil in 2013.

Jubilation: Bermuda senior women’s football team celebrates winning gold at the Island Games in Guernsey (Photograph supplied)

“It’s an amazing feeling,’’ said head coach Naquita Robinson. “We had our plan when we left Bermuda and we stuck to it, even if they got one or two opportunities, we were able to get right back at them.

Winning coach: senior women's football team coach Naquita Robinson with her gold medal (Photograph supplied)

“I am very proud of how the girls performed and how they actually stuck to our plan.”

“We didn't concede even one goal at all, the only football team the entire tournament that did not concede a goal, male and female, we just took one game at a time.”

Meanwhile, the men’s under-23 football team ended the tournament in disappointment, agonisingly missing out on a medal after going down to a narrow 2-1 defeat against the Isle of Wight in the third-place play-off.

Following on from the earlier success, Cox added a second gold medal, as she shot a final-round 80, which proved enough to finish on top of the leaderboard with a total of 314, two shots ahead of Flora Keites, of Jersey.

Champion’s smile: Ebonie Cox won gold at the Island Games (File photograph)

Kimberly Botelho enjoyed a strong performance, shooting a final-round 76, to finish in sixth overall on 322, while Tracy Burgess finished seventeenth with a total of 335 having shot a score of 86 in the last round of action and Ann Symonds settled for 37th place after she shot 101, her worst score of the four rounds, for a total of 390.

However, there was delight for the quartet after they claimed silver in the women’s team event, finishing just three shots behind Jersey, who claimed the gold.

Silver medal-winners: the women's golf team finished second behind Jersey (Photograph supplied)

In the men’s event, Oliver Betschart and Jarryd Dillas were Bermuda’s best performers as they finished joint sixteenth, having both shot a final round of 81 to finish on a total of 310, 13 shots outside of the medals.

Adam Perry also carded the same total to finish in 23rd place on 312, while Jevon Roberts, who finished 30th, ended on a high, with a final-round score of 78 for a total of 318. Bermuda were fifth in the men’s team event, which was won by Guernsey.

The three medals on the final day meant that Bermuda ended the Games with a total haul of ten.

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Published July 15, 2023 at 8:01 am (Updated July 15, 2023 at 9:57 pm)

Bermuda’s golden girls

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