Gardner wants more Jamaican joy

7:30am Thursday 4th September 2008

RICARDO Gardner hopes to bring football back to the top of the agenda back home in Jamaica after the country’s phenomenal showing at the Beijing Olympics.

Usain Bolt and Co provided his country with six track golds in China, but the Reggae Boyz skipper hopes it will be his team grabbing the headlines by the time they have competed against Mexico and Honduras in the latest round of World Cup qualifiers.

National skipper Gardner admitted he has been “filled with pride” watching the likes of Bolt, Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Veronica Campbell-Brown dominate the sprinting events in Beijing, but hopes his own team can give the island another sporting boost, given the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav in the last seven days.

“There is a great feeling about sport back at home at the moment,” he said. “Over the last few weeks, the athletes have made the country proud and it would be great for us as a team to do the same by qualifying for the World Cup, and beating Mexico and Honduras will give us a good chance of doing that."

For full story see Thursday's The Bolton News