Team TTO | Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee | teamtto.org

TRINIDAD and Tobago swimmer, George Bovell, has earned his fourth silver medal at the Qatar-Leg of the FINA/Arena Swimming Short Course World Cup at the weekend.

Bovell sped home in 21.06 seconds after USA’s Anthony Ervin for the second straight week in the men’s 50 metres at the Hamad Aquatic Centre.

He was seventh in the same event at the London Olympic Games. Ervin won gold in 21.02 second while Australians Kyle Richardson got bronze in 21.54 seconds.

The trio also finished in the same order at the United Arab Emirates leg of the World Cup on Wednesday, with Ervin winning in 21.18 seconds, followed by Bovell (21.23) and Richardson (21.58).

Bovell also earned a second straight silver medal in the men’s 100 metres individual in a new national record and lifetime best of 51.87 seconds at the weekend.

Last week at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex, Swimming Pool, in Dubai, Bovell got silver in the 100m in 52.19 seconds.

The 2004 Olympic bronze medal winner is due to participate in a number of international swim meets over the next few weeks including events in Sweden, Russia, Germany, China, Japan and Singapore.

Source: www.newsday.co.tt

TRINIDAD AND Tobago will be hosting the newly-formed World League Round One Qualifier, under the auspices of the International Hockey Federation (IHF), from November 11-17.

Matches will take place at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua with TT entertaining Barbados, Chile, Puerto Rico and Venezuela in the men’s category while, in the women’s division, TT will have to deal with Barbados, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The World League is part of the FIH’s quest to make the qualification process for both the

World Cup and the Olympics as inclusive and local as possible, in an effort to minimise travel costs to the smaller hockey countries.

It is split into four rounds that last over a two-year cycle. For one cycle, the World League will serve as the qualifier for the World Cup and in the next cycle serves as the qualifier for the Olympics Games.

Ann Browne-John is the chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), while Douglas Camacho, Garth Baptiste, Annette Knott, Roger Gomes, Maureen Craig Rousseau, Willard Harris, Gary Griffith and Monica Sobers-Hylton are the other appointed members.

Source: www.newsday.co.tt

HARVARD SPORTS Club climbed to the top of the Toyota Championship Division standings when they romped past defending champions Caribs Rugby Club 31-5, as both teams clashed heads at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, on Saturday.

The 2011 winners never looked themselves and concluded the first period of play significantly behind (21-5) a dominant Harvard force. Two foul play red cards against Caribs players Jamal Clark and Andre Carbrera also played a crucial role in the Harvard victory.

Harvards players, Claudius Butts, Rowell Gordon, David Gookool and Cloyd London all scored tries for the squad while Ryan Hinkson chipped in with five critical conversions and one goal-bound penalty. Jason Clark scored the lone try for Caribs.

Harvard Club is now on a high as they presently hold a one-point margin ahead of the defending champions.

For both teams, their remaining three Toyota Championship games are all must-win matches.

Harvard coach, Larry Mendez was pleased that his team was able to notch the all important win over Caribs. He acknowledged his players for a job well done, but was well aware that the title race was far from over.

“It was a crucial match, and one we had to win to keep our hopes of winning the Toyota Championship alive. So credit to the guys. But the mission isn’t over. Our next opponent is Stag Trinidad Northern,” said Mendez.

Other Toyota matches on Saturday saw Stag Trinidad Northern beat Police 87-0 and Royalians defeat Rainbow 46-7.

Source: www.newsday.co.tt

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has vowed to tighten up testing procedures after a number of competitors at the recent 2012 Olympic Games in London missed blood test appointments without incurring sanctions.

The missed appointments, for blood tests relating to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), were disclosed in the recent Independent Observer (IO) report on the London 2012 anti-doping programme and were first reported last month by insidethegames.

The story aroused much interest, including from Paula Radcliffe, the Marathon world record-holder, who circulated it to her 85,000 plus Twitter followers with the comment, "Totally UNACCEPTABLE".

Asked by insidethegames what was being done to prevent something like this happening again, the IOC replied:

"As mentioned in the IO report, the failure of some athletes to report to the doping control at their assigned times as part of the ABP testing programme was noted by the relevant International Federations [Ifs], which subsequently took alternative measures to control these athletes.

"Based on this first experience with the ABP testing programme in London, the IOC will work in close collaboration with the IFs and the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] to apply stricter procedures for the programme at future Olympic Games."

It is still not clear how many athletes missed their appointments or from which sports.

WADA President John Fahey disclosed just ahead of the Games in July that as many as six sports would be deploying the ABP, which is based on the idea that by monitoring certain biological variables in an athlete over time, unusual variations in those measurements might betray a change in behaviour, such as recourse to doping.

The six sports were understood at the time to be athletics, swimming, cycling, rowing, triathlon and modern pentathlon.

Problems such as these missed London appointments clearly do nothing to boost confidence in the ABP as a weapon in the war against drug cheats.

One Swiss-based blood doping expert told insidethegames this year that the ABP's ability to reveal doping with erythropoietin (EPO) was "virtually zero".

-David Owen

Source: www.insidethegames.biz

l COLOMBO
Inspired by a swashbuckling knock of 78 from Marlon Samuels at a crucial stage, West Indies rolled over Sri Lanka by 36 runs to lift the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka yesterday.
Darren Sammy’s team silenced a partisan crowd of 30,000 at R Premadasa Stadium by first recovering from a very slow start to score 137 for six off 20 overs after having the luck of the toss in the highly anticipated final.
That total had seemed a long way off when they limped to 32 for two after ten overs, having reached 14 for one off six overs  – the lowest score in the powerplay stage of the tournament.
Sri Lanka also found the going tough and collapsed from 51 for two in the 11th over to 101 all out in 18.4 overs, sparking wild celebrations and dancing among the West Indies players.
Ace off-spinner Sunil Narine snatched three wickets for nine runs off 3.4 overs, and medium-pacer Sammy picked up two for six off two overs.
It was the first time since 2004 when Brian Lara’s team captured the Champions Trophy in England that West Indies had won an international limited overs title.
The victory could not have been more telling after Samuels lifted West Indies’ spirits with his memorable 56-ball knock, which included six sixes – one of them carrying a series record 108 metres, along with three fours.
The dominance of Samuels’ innings was underlined by the fact that he tore into ace fast bowler Lasith Malinga, smashing him for 39 off his first three overs in a hapless return of none for 54 off four overs.
An ecstatic Sammy could not contain his feelings after the match.
“For the last two years we’ve shown the never-say-die attitude, but we haven’t had the results,” the West Indies captain said. “This moment we’re going to live forever. The team has been through a lot in the last two years, for the last ten years. The mission was to win the T20 World Cup, the belief we left the Caribbean with has pulled us through. Today we were down and out but our never-say-die attitude came out.
“Thank you to everyone who supported us. The tournament is for the fans. The love we felt from the Sri Lankan people is tremendous and we want to thank them for that. This hopefully will be the beginning of things to come. Hopefully this team will go on.”
Opting to play an unchanged side when it was generally felt that opener Johnson Charles should have been dropped for either Dwayne Smith or Lendl Simmons, West Indies lost an indecisive Charles in the fifth ball of the match when he lifted medium-pacer Angelo Mathews into the hands of mid-off before scoring.
The usually free-scoring Chris Gayle took nine balls to get off the mark as Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene skillfully changed his bowlers with a combination of spin and pace.
Left-hander Gayle, who had predicted a West Indies win after their ruthless 74-run victory over Australia in the semi-finals, made just three off 16 balls before off-spinner Ajantha Mendis had him leg before wicket with a straight ball.
Samuels and Dwayne Bravo then gradually consolidated as Bravo struck the first six of the match in the 12th over when he swung Akila Dananjaya over midwicket to move to 14 off 12 balls.
By then Samuels, who hit the first boundary of the match in the fourth over through extra-cover off fast-medium Nuwan Kulasekara, had moved to 24 off 35 balls.
In the over after Bravo hit the six, Samuels tore into Malinga, flicking for six over midwicket and then crashed the next ball over long-off for another six.
Samuels reached his fifty with a six off Jeevan Mendis. It came off 46 balls and contained five sixes and one four.
He and Bravo added 59 in 8.1 overs before Bravo was unfortunate to be given out leg before wicket for 19 by retiring Australian umpire Simon Taufel, in his last international match, to Ajantha Mendis. Television replays showed the ball came off the inside edge of the bat.
Kieron Pollard was caught at backward point on the second attempt by Dananjaya off Ajantha Mendis for two and Andre Russell was leg before wicket next ball as he essayed a sweep.
After Samuels was dismissed with the score on 108 off the first ball off the 18th over, Sammy, with an unbeaten 26 off 15 balls, helped to beef up the total.
Ajantha Mendis was the leading wicket-taker with four for 12 off four overs.
Sri Lanka suffered an early setback when fast bowler Ravi Rampaul ‘squared up’ Tillekaratne Dishan and bowled him off stump without scoring in the second over of the innings.
The vastly experienced pair of Jayawardene and left-hander Kumar Sangakkara took the score to 48 in the 10th over before the latter, who made 22, pulled a short ball from leg-spinner Samuels Badre to deep midwicket where Pollard took a well-judged low catch, diving forward on his knees.
From thereon it was struggle.
Mathews, coming too far inside his wicket, was bowled by a slower ball from Sammy and West Indies sustained the pressure with the scalp of Jayawardene, caught from a slog sweep by Sammy who was standing at point in the original position off Narine for the topscore of 33 off 36 balls with two boundaries.
As the pressure mounted, running between the wickets became indecisive and led to two run outs, one of them a direct throw from wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin who raced to short midwicket and despite a plea from bowler Samuels not to throw the ball, struck the stumps at the non-striker’s end to get rid of Thisara Perera as the sixth wicket to fall with the score 64 in the 14th over.
Kulasekera gave Seri Lanka a desperate late hope by lashing 26 off 13 balls with three fours and one six as 22 runs came off the 16trh over from Rampaul.
But after he was removed by Narine to a catch at long-off by Badree, virtually everyone knew that West Indies were just waiting to celebrate a most memorable win with dancing and prancing in true Caribbean style.
—CMC

T20 SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES VS SRI LANKA

WEST INDIES
J Charles c Kulasesekara b Mathews 0
CH Gayle lbw BAW Mendis 3
MN Samuels c BMAJ Mendis b Dananjaya 78
DJ Bravo lbw b BAW Mendis 19
KA Pollard c dananjaya b Mendis 2
AD Russell lbw b BAW Mendis 0
*DJG Sammy not out 26
+D. Ramdin not out 4
Extras (lb2, w3) 5
TOTAL (6 wks, 20 overs) 137
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-14, 3-73, 4-87, 5-87, 6-108.
Did not bat: Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree.
Bowling: Mathews 4-1-11-1 (w1);, Kulasekara 3-0-22-0 (w1); Malinga 4-0-54-0; BAW Mendis 4-0-12-4 (w1); Dananjaya 3-0-16-1; BMAJ Mendis 2-0-20-0.

SRI LANKA
*DPMD Jayawardene c Sammy b Narine 33
TM Dilshan b Rampaul 0
+KC Sangakarra c Pollard b Badree 22
AD Mathews b Sammy 1
BMAJ Mendis run out (Bravo/Narine) 3
NLTC  Perera run out (Ramdin) 3
HDRL Thirimanne c Charles b Sammy 4
KMDN Kulasekara c Badree b Narine 26
SL Malinga c Bravo b Narine 5
BAW Mendis c Bravo b Samuels 1
A Dananjaya not out 0
Extras (b2, nb1) 3
TOTAL (all out, 18.4 overs) 101
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-48, 3-51, 4-60, 5-61, 6-64, 7-69, 8-96, 9-100, 10-101.
Bowling: Badree 4-0-24-1; Rampaul 3-0-31-1 (nb1); Samuels 4-0-15-1; Gayle 2-0-14-0; Narine 3.4-0-9-3; Sammy 2-0-6-2.

Result: West Indies won by 36 runs.
Toss: West Indies
Series: West Indies won the 2012/13 ICC Word Twenty20
Player of the Match: MN Samuels (West Inides)
Player of the Series: SR Watson (Australia)
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), SJA Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: RJ Tucker (Australia)
Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire: IJ Gould (England)

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

Two Jamaican athletes, including 4x400 metres relay pool member Dominique Blake, are facing disciplinary action after testing positive for doping.

A preliminary hearing began in Kingston, Jamaica, yesterday for Blake and national 800 metres champion Ricardo Cunningham over doping violations returned by the pair at Jamaica's Senior Championships in June.

Cunningham, who trains with the MVP track Club in Jamaica, appeared in person at the hearing, while Blake, who previously served a nine-month ban, sent a representative.

They are due to reappear on October 17.

Last November, former Jamaican relay world champion Steve Mullings was banned for life from competing in athletics after a second doping offence.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

Talented teenagers, Aaron Wilson and Arun Roopnarine are in Markham, Ottawa, competing in the Scotiabank 2012 Canada Junior & Cadet Open table tennis tournament.

Trinidad and Tobago Table Tennis Association (T&TTTA) secretary, Bob Roopnarine explained that their participation is being facilitated by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), as part of the ITTF WFIM (With The Future in Mind) project.

"Aaron was selected for the ITTF Hopes programme initially some three years ago. He was moved into the ITTF WFIM project last year with confirmation from the TTOC (T&T Olympic Committee). For 2012, again with confirmation from the TTOC and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Olympic Solidarity in Lausanne, (Switzerland), Aaron was approved.

"The ITTF," the T&TTTA secretary continued, "has agreed to add Arun to the ITTF WFIM project and allocate the funding for a T&T Cadet Boys team composed of Arun and Aaron. Their logic is that the benefits of doing that rather than focusing only on one player is far better for T&T table tennis.

"The ITTF will provide accommodation and a waiver of tournament fees for selected events."

T&TTTA president, Reeza Burke, an ITTF Level 2 coach, travelled to Canada with Aaron and Arun.

"While there," said Roopnarine (Bob), "Reeza will hold discussions with Joe Fisher of Canada, who has been mandated by the ITTF to conduct a Referees and Umpires Course from November 1 to 8, 2012."

On September 24, two days before his 14th birthday, Wilson won the Tobago Open men's singles title, beating top-ranked Curtis Humphreys in the final.

And Roopnarine (Arun), who turned 15 on Monday, was part of the T&T team that struck gold in the men's team event at the Caribbean Championships, in Dominican Republic, in August.

-Kwame Laurence

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

An official who works for Mohamed Bin Hammam has been suspended from all football-related activity for failing to cooperate with an investigation into the former FIFA presidential candidate, the governing body said yesterday.

Najeeb Chirakal, who works for the Qatar FA, has been banned by FIFA's ethics committee for two months or until he cooperates with the proceedings, whichever comes first.

"The ban is effective immediately and will last for two months or until Chirakal cooperates with these proceedings as requested, whichever is earlier," FIFA said in a statement.

Bin Hammam is being investigated over alleged bribery claims during his campaign to unseat FIFA president Sepp Blatter in last year's presidential election.

The 63-year-old Qatari also faces allegations of financial mismanagement in his role as Asian Football Confederation president.

Bin Hammam has denied any wrongdoing.

Chirakal had been asked to provide information and documents by the secretary to the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee but failed to respond, the FIFA statement added.

Bin Hammam, who was standing against Blatter in last year's presidential election until he was suspended for alleged bribery, was later banned by FIFA for life over the allegations.

The ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in July, after CAS ruled there was insufficient evidence.

The case is being reviewed by Michael Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber of FIFA's revamped ethics committee.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com

FACILITIES WHICH were outlined as part of the sporting package in the 2012-2013 National Budget by Finance Minister Larry Howai on Monday are under construction.

In the 2011-2012 Budget presentation by then-Finance Minister Winston Dookeran, it was announced that work will begin on three new sporting venues - the National Tennis Centre in Tacarigua (next to the Eddie Hart Ground) as well as the National Aquatic Centre and the Cycling Velodrome in Couva (next to the Ato Boldon Stadium).

And Howai, on Monday, reiterated that the facilities “will be constructed in readiness for international competition and built according to international specifications to attract world-class athletes to Trinidad and Tobago to provide the required exposure to our athletes and provide the opportunity for Sport Tourism.”

Sports Minister Anil Roberts, in an interview on Monday, pointed out, “at the Eddie Hart Ground, phase one was done, with the upgrade of the car-park and so on. Then to the east of (the Ground), is the National Tennis Centre, which has begun.

“The Aquatic Centre has begun in Couva, next to the Ato Boldon (Stadium) and the Cycling Velodrome has begun,” he continued. “You’ll see work moving apace on those sites, as well as recreational grounds across Trinidad and Tobago, and most recently three grounds and three basketball courts in (Laventille).”

Finance Minister Howai said that the Sports Ministry and the Planning and Sustainable Development Ministry will jointly prepare “a marketing programme for hosting international events and aimed at encouraging international sports-men and women to come to Trinidad and Tobago, particularly during the winter months to utilise the facilities for which we are seeking appropriate franchisees.

“During their stay, they would compete with our local athletes which will assist our development to world-class standards.”

Roberts, asked about Trinidad and Tobago as a sports tourism location, replied, “we move towards the next three years to develop Sports Festivals in April and October for Trinidad and Tobago, as well as during the winter months.

“Every 10,000 tourists that we can get here will add to the annual GDP (gross domestic product) of the country by approximately $120 million,” continued Roberts. “So over the next five years, we would want to develop the sport tourism industry, where we can reach a target of 50,000 visitors to Trinidad and Tobago annually based on sport, whether it is for sporting events, whether it is for training, whether it is for competition.

“In that way, we can add to the national pie over half a billion dollars to Trinidad and Tobago’s revenue position, as we move sport to a true industry,” he ended.

-Joel Bailey

Source: www.newsday.co.tt

PRESIDENT OF the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) Larry Romany is pleased but cautious over the plans for sport which were unveiled in the National Budget, for the fiscal year 2012-2013, by Finance Minister Larry Howai on Monday.

Romany, the veteran sporting administrator, stated in an interview yesterday, “we’re always very happy to see sport get funding but the whole problem is going to be the execution of those things.”

Howai said that work will continue on the construction of three major sporting venues - the Aquatic Centre and National Velodrome (both in Balmain, Couva) and National Tennis Centre (in Tacarigua), while a lot of focus will go towards the upgrading and maintenance of a number of recreational grounds across the country.

“Those are the same things that keep coming up every year in the Budget, the fixing of fields, the building of facilities, but the real story is whether or not it will start, or when it will get off the ground,” said Romany. “It hasn’t gotten off the ground since they have announced it, and that was over two years ago.

“I think the plans for all of these facilities (were) since 2007. The same thing about fixing fields, upgrading and so forth, it comes back in every Budget.”

Romany expressed hope that, in this fiscal year, the plans will start to materialise, both with the three major venues and the community fields.

Asked if the Finance Minister’s focus on sport was a result of Trinidad and Tobago’s performance at the Olympic Games in London, England, Romany responded, “if you went back to last year’s Budget, it had the same upgrading of facilities. So it didn’t have anything really to do with the successes.

“Maybe now, with the successes, there will be a strong impetus to actually get it done. But the things that were announced, are announced on an annual basis, for the last four years.

We’re hearing it since 2007. It’s just for it to start to get off the ground.”

With regards to track and field, Romany pointed out, “I think that the development of track and field will depend heavily on the upgrade of many of the community fields. The training and the coaching of track and field is done on grass, it’s not done in the stadia.”

He continued, “the Hasely Crawford Stadium was reconditioned recently to take international meets. That is fairly adequate. I know they’re doing the one in Tobago, which is very good. Tobago has tremendous athletes.

“It will be good to do the (Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella). But, more than that, is the upgrading of the playing grounds, of the grass fields that could be levelled and so forth.

“Training and development can be done on those. That’s a very important aspect in the development of athletics,” Romany ended.

-Joel Bailey

Source: www.newsday.co.tt

Tonya Nero will be T&T’s lone representative at the 20th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna, Bulgaria on October 6.

Baboolal said Nero was the lone athlete selected. “Tonya was the only athlete close to international standard.” Top local runners Richard Jones and Curtis Cox were not considered.  Jones  represented Trinidad and Tobago at three championships in 2005 (Edmonton, Canada), 2007 (Udine, Italy)  and 2008 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) with his best performance in Rio (71st -1:13.01). Nero, a former student of ASJA Girls College, is a recipient of the Ministry of Sports’ Elite Funding Assistance Programme since May and holds national records in women’s outdoor 5,000m, 10,000m half marathon and marathon and the indoor 3,000m and 5,000m events. The Maracas-resident was  seventh in the women’s 10,000m finals at the 2011 NCAA Division One Outdoor Championships and 13th in the 5,000m finals at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships. In March earlier this year Nero created history when she became the first local woman to win an individual medal at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Cross Country Championships taking second place in the senior women’s race at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. She later missed out qualifying for the London Olympics in the women’s marathon when she ran 2:43:45 (a national record) in Rotterdam in April, missing the Olympic B mark of 2:43.00.

-Clayton Clarke

Source: www.guardian.co.tt

These days I find myself spending a lot of time trying to make sense of what is taking place here in T&T. A lot of what is happening does not make sense, at least for the neutrals that have no political allegiances or association, if you are in the middle and count your only allegiance as simply being for T&T. As such, common sense and right thinking are the baseline considerations not politics. It is bewildering and frustrating. It’s a minefield out there and any misstep could prove detrimental. Yesterday was Budget day and one had expected that the way forward would be clear. Yet again politics seems to have trumped common sense.

Goodwill is essential for any human endeavour to thrive far less survive. But for any review to be effective it must begin with everyone looking at themselves first. Fix your own house first before you focus on fixing any other house. How then do we deal with the current reality where the public has a natural distrust of politicians and leaders? Sport is an expression of culture and each sport brings with it a unique culture. It is necessary that there be respect for different cultures. In the push to professionalise local sport there is a grave danger that those who are being paid will forget that sport anywhere in the world thrives because people give their time for free for children and young people to simply be able to play. Why a root and branch review? Why budget? Why plan? Why evaluate and measure? Somewhere along the line we have to come to the realisation that we can do much better. That there is improvement and that we are far from making optimum use of the potential, talent and resources.

-Brian Lewis

Source: www.guardian.co.tt