As the country celebrates 52 years of Independence, it is timely to remind ourselves of some of the outstanding contributions of our sportswomen and sportsmen in their respective sporting disciplines locally, regionally and internationally.

In athletics, Hasley Crawford won the 100 metres gold medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, 36 years after, Keshorn Walcott became the country’s second Olympic gold medallist when he won the javelin event at the London Olympics in 2012. Jehue Gordon won gold in the men’s 400 metres hurdle at the IAAF World Championship in Moscow, Russia in 2014. Other notable track and field athletes are Cleopatra Borrel, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Wendell Mottley, Ato Boldon, Richard Thompson, Lalonde Gordon, and Richard Thompson.

This country has produced four boxing world champions. Claude Noel became this country’s first world champion in 1981, when he defeated Mexican Rodolfo Gonzalez to win the WBA World Lightweight title. Leslie Stewart won the WBA World Light Heavyweight title in 1987 defeating Marvin ‘Pops’ Johnson at the Jean Pierre Complex. Ria Ramnarine became the country’s first female world champion when she defeated Ana Fernandez in 2005 at the Jean Pierre Complex to win the WIBA Mini Flyweight World title. At the time of her shocking, untimely death in 2009, Giselle Salandy was a multiple World champion holding the WBA, WBC and WIBA middle weight titles.

Debra O’Connor could be considered as one of the best badminton players of all time in T&T and the Caribbean. The four-time sportswoman of the year won the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation singles title on five occasions (1984, 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1995). She was also single and doubles champion in 1984, 1985 and 1995. In 1990 and 1993 she was a Triple Crown winner, being crowned singles, doubles and mixed doubles champion.

Cycling has produced outstanding riders such as Roger Gibbon, Gene Samuel, Maxwell Cheeseman, Michael Phillips, Hylton “Barracuda” Mitchell, Roger Smart, Njisane Phillip and Emile Abraham.

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Brian Lara, is by far the greatest cricketer this country has produced. The world record holder for the highest first class score (501 not out) and highest test score (400 not out) conquered all bowlers and thrilled the cricketing world with superb timing and stroke play. Other noteworthy cricketers are Sir Learie Constantine, Jeffery Stollmeyer, Sonny Ramadhin, Gerry Gomez, Deryck Murray, Rangy Nanan, Inshan Ali, Ian Bishop, Ann Browne-John and Anisa Mohammed.

Dwight Yorke is the most celebrated footballer, having won several championships in England and Europe with Manchester United. Other outstanding footballers from T&T are Alvin Corneal, Bobby Sookram, Sedley Joseph, Lincoln Phillips, Everald “Gally” Cummings, Richard Chinapoo, David Nahkid, Russell Latapy, and Shaka Hislop. The “Strike Squad”, 1989, “Soca Warriors”. 2006, and “Soca Princess”, 2014, have all given the population a lot be proud Trinbagonians.

Stephen Ames, Carlos “Sexy” Baynes and Maria Nunes have all represented the golf with greater distinction.

Hockey has provided players such as Stacey-Ann Sui Butts, Kwandwane Browne and Dwain Quan Chan.

T&T was crowned joint World Netball Champions with Australia and New Zealand in 1979. During the 1980s the “Calypso Queens” dominated the Caribbean championship and were among the top five countries in the world. Some of the outstanding netballers of the past are Jean Pierre, Janet Bailey, Sherill Peters and Sharon Castanada.

Road running has become a very popular sport in recent years. Some of the outstanding road runners have been Moses Ranghell, Bernard Mungroo, Michael Alexander, Curtis Cox, Richard Jones, Lynette “Granny” Luces, Richard Jones and Tonya Nero.

George Bovell III is the country’s most celebrated swimmer. His greatest accomplishment has been winning the bronze medal in the 200IM at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Other notable swimmers over the years are Paul Newallo, Sebastian Paddington, Sioban Cropper and Shantol Ince.

Some of the outstanding table tennis players are Mansingh Amarsingh, Derek DeSilva, Steve Ragbir, Seamus Clarke, Dexter St Louis and Rheann Chung. Tennis has provided players in the calibre of Lystra Lewis, Allan and Lindsay Price, Beverly Corbie and Shane Stone.

Bert Manhin and Roger Daniel have dominated the sport of shooting, while Jason Gooding and Ancil Greene have been outstanding triathletes. Cheryl Sankar stood tall in Taekwondo.

Weightlifter Rodney Wilkes was the country’s first medallist at the Olympics winning the silver medal in the featherweight category at the 1948 London Games. At the 1952 Helsinki Games, he won bronze at the same event.

It is evident that the country’s Independence can also be measured by the contribution that sportswomen and sportsmen have made not only to their respective sports but also in ensuring that the rest of the world know that T&T is a force to be reckoned with.

As we continue to grow as a society, every effort must be made to support our sportswomen and sportsmen.

On August 12, 2014, after 16 months off the track, it seemed as though Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Kelly Ann Baptiste would finally be allowed to compete again after the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) disciplinary panel lifted her ban for an anti-doping rule violation during the IAAF World Championships in Moscow last year.


However, last week, the NAAA received notification that the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) intended to appeal the decision of the disciplinary panel to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in so doing, reinstated Baptiste’s ban.

Baptiste had reportedly tested positive for a banned substance and voluntarily withdrew from the competition in Moscow. The NAAA disciplinary panel, comprising Attorney-at-Law, J Tyrone Marcus as chairman, Brigadier General Anthony Phillips-Spencer of the Defence Force, sports medicine specialist Dr Anyl Gopeesingh, NAAA public relations officer, Peter Samuel, and NAAA general secretary Allan Baboolal, reconvened earlier this month to issue its final ruling on Baptiste’s case having first met on June 6.

According to the NAAA release, the second meeting was necessary due to the prevailing anti-doping rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which stipulated that in cases like that of Baptiste, where Substantial Assistance was provided, the matter needed to be referred to the Doping Review Board of the IAAF before being remitted to the Disciplinary Panel.

According to the NAAA press release, “The substantial assistance provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code and related rules globally are aimed at encouraging openness and full disclosure but have rarely been invoked.

“The most recent substantial assistance case involved US sprinter Tyson Gay, who served a one-year suspension having cooperated with the United States Anti-Doping Agency USADA) and the IAAF. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) acknowledged Gay’s help and did not appeal his one-year suspension.”

Normally, athletes receive a two-year suspension for their first major doping offense but under anti-doping rules the ban can be reduced for substantial co-operation.

The NAAA explained that due to the sensitivity of the information provided by Baptiste, who was co-operating with various anti-doping regulators, her hearing was conducted in strict confidence because of the potential impact her disclosures could have on revealing past or current doping offenses by third parties.

In justifying their decision to lift the ban, the NAAA stated: “The Disciplinary Panel decided on August 12, 2014, that in view of the applicable regulations regarding substantial assistance, Baptiste’s general conduct and co-operation, the decisions in previous anti-doping case law and the fact that she had served a 16-month period of ineligibility (already four months longer than Gay) since the collection of her urine sample, her ban would be lifted with immediate effect, with the panel having the power to reinstate the ban subsequently, if the circumstances so required.”

France-based Rheann Chung led Trinidad and Tobago’s-women’s table-tennis team to a semi-final spot at the Qualifying Event for the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games which ends tomorrow in El Salvador. However, T&T’s men were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by the home team El Salvador.
Nevertheless, both teams have qualified for the CAC Games to be held in Veracruz, Mexico from November 14-30.
The T&T women’s team consisting of Chung, Catherine Spicer and Ashley Quashie, are due to meet Venezuela in one semi-final today, while Cuba take on Guatemala in the other.
T&T fended off strong challenges from Jamaica (3-2) and Guatemala (3-1), before sweeping past Guyana (3-0). Caribbean rivals Jamaica provided the toughest opposition, taking T&T to a five-match marathon in the opening tie. Chung gave T&T a 1-0 lead, with a straight sets 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 victory over Jamaican Dardrian Lewis, before Yvonne Foster beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Spicer 3-2 to level the tie at 1-1.
The Jamaicans took a 2-1 lead after winning the doubles, before Chung beat Foster to level the series 2-2. It was then left to Spicer to beat Lewis to give T&T the match by a 3-2 margin. Spicer won the first two sets 11-9, 12-10 and Lewis won the third 13-11, before the T&T woman won the third at 11-7.
Meanwhile, France-based Dexter St Louis, Curtis Humphreys and Aaron Wilson formed the T&T men’s team, which also won three preliminary round matches against St Kitts-Nevis (3-0), Guyana (3-0) and St Vincent & the Grenadines (3-0). But hosts El Salvador were more difficult opponents at the quarter-final stage. The home team won 3-1 to eliminate T&T.
El Salvador’s Jose Donedo beat both St Louis and Humphreys. First, Donedo took a three-set victory over St Louis 11-9, 11-4, 11-9, but had a tougher fight against Humphreys, who took two sets off the El Salvador number one, before losing by a 3-2 margin. Humphreys went down 3-2 to Eric Alves, while Wilson won the only match for T&T, when defeating Davi Diaz 11-3, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8.

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When a relationship is defined by mistrust, don’t expect significant progress.

After emerging as Caribbean champions without conceding a goal and advancing to the final round of CONCACAF qualification for next year’s senior World Cup, the national women footballers barely had time to savour Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Jamaica in the final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium before they were pleading for corporate Trinidad and Tobago to support their bid to make it to Canada in 2015.

That they actually finished top of the tree without having the sort of intended preparation—due to the inevitable financial constraints—says a lot for the talent, teamwork and determination of the squad led by Maylee Attin-Johnson and now coached by American Randy Waldrum.

Unfortunately, these players are merely the latest collateral damage in the credibility gap between the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association and any potential long-term financiers or short-term sponsors, whether in the public or private sector.

Raymond Tim Kee has given the undertaking that everything possible will be done to ensure the team is well prepared for next month’s final hurdle in the United States. However the TTFA president must appreciate that the organisation he heads suffers from a chronic lack of goodwill that goes across the board.

Yes, it must also be acknowledged that we are a nation of bandwagonnists, showing no real interest at the turnstiles or in sponsorship dollars until the team in question is almost on the verge of making history. Yet for all that, other sporting organisations are still able to attract financial support to varying degrees when their representative teams are taking the early steps on the road to qualification or are looking for funding to stage a training camp. It doesn’t take any deep analysis to work out just why there is such widespread reluctance to bankroll the various age-group and senior national team programmes of the TTFA, even when they have enjoyed a measure of success as they are doing now. One is a personality—Jack Warner. The other is an event— the 1989 World Cup qualifying campaign for Italia ’90.Both are intertwined, and only those who just come or are being deliberately disingenuous will suggest that Warner’s absence from football administration for three years now and the fact that the qualifying bid of the “Strike Squad” was all of 25 years ago mean that we should all be able to put that in the past and move forward now with full and complete confidence in the present administration of the game.

Look, Warner’s mercurial manner and tendency to attract controversy continue to impact negatively on broad perceptions of the football administration in this country. And it has to be said that Tim Kee’s haughty and dismissive tone in his interactions with the media have hardly been helpful. Whether he realises it or not, the TTFA boss comes across as someone who detests being questioned, who seems barely capable of retaining his composure when his perspective on some aspect of football is openly contradicted.

Maybe it’s a legacy of the Warner years, of which he was a part, but if the TTFA is really serious about making a meaningful transformation and being more accountable to the public, then that change has to begin with the man at the top. Of course, in this highly-charged political environment, it doesn’t help that Tim Kee is also an opposition politician.

In a society where political opponents are mature enough to put that to-ing and fro-ing aside when it comes to other issues, like the administration and financing of football, it really shouldn’t matter that he is not only a member of the People’s National Movement, but also the Mayor of Port of Spain. All that should be of concern from the point of view of the country’s most popular sport is whether or not he is doing a good job at the helm of the TTFA.

We have to be real though, and accept that almost everything is viewed through a political lens, and unless he wants to go down the “yesterday was yesterday, today is today” road of Warner, Tim Kee needs to step forward and show that he is capable of communicating honestly and sincerely, via the media, with the football fans and potential sponsors of Trinidad and Tobago.

There are many, many people who absolutely love the game and wish to be more supportive, financially and otherwise, if only they could believe an organisation that was happy to benefit from Warner’s influence yet at the same time pleaded innocence over controversies ranging from the “Road to Italy” campaign to the blacklisted members of the 2006 World Cup finals squad.

Our national women’s team needs the support. But first, the TTFA must show itself deserving of our trust.

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Richard ‘Torpedo’ Thompson celebrated Trinidad and Tobago’s 52nd Independence Anniversary with victory at the ISTAF Berlin IAAF World Challenge meet, in Germany, yesterday. Thompson clocked 10.15 seconds to grab top spot in the men’s 100 metres dash, the triple Olympic medallist forcing American Dentarius Locke to settle for silver in 10.16. Another T&T sprinter, Keston Bledman got to the line in 10.23 seconds to secure bronze.


For Thompson, the golden run was a return to winning ways. In May and June this year, the US-based athlete was unbeaten in 100m finals, his best run coming at the NGC/Sagicor National Open Championships, where he captured the century title with a 9.82 seconds scorcher – a new national record and the second fastest time in the world this year, behind American Justin Gatlin’s 9.80.

Thompson was winless in July. That month’s campaign included participation at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Though among the favourites for gold in Glasgow, the 29-year-old sprinter was eliminated in the semi-final round.

After a month away from competition, Thompson was back on the track last Thursday, at the Weltklasse IAAF Diamond League finals in Zurich, Switzerland. He finished seventh in the Weltklasse 100m event in 10.26 seconds. Three days later, Thompson regained his golden form with the T&T Independence Day victory in the German capital.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Cleopatra Borel continued her fine run of form with bronze in the ISTAF Berlin women’s shot put. The T&T field athlete threw the iron ball 18.53 metres. Germany’s Christina Schwanitz won in front of her home crowd, the 2014 European champion landing the shot 19.53m. The runner-up spot went to Russia’s Evgeniia Kolodko (19.43m).

George Bovell III’s timing was impeccable in Dubai yesterday. Trinidad and Tobago’s most decorated swimmer, competing on the 52nd anniversary of the country’s independence at the second leg of the FIN/Mastbank World Cup in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, grabbed gold again in the 100 metres individual medley (IM).


The win was Bovell’s second of the 2014 World Cup series, following his victory last Wednesday in the same event at the first leg in Doha, Qatar. Yesterday’s triumph, however, was of a shade higher quality.

Swimming out of lane four, Bovell touched the wall in 51.79 seconds, which was enough to push American Thomas Shields (52.14) into second and another American, Cody Miller (52.46) into third. Again as last week in Doha, Bovell owed his win to a strong finish, the T&T swimmer making up ground on Shields, the half-way leader, to grab the gold in a time that was just over a second faster than his winning 52.80 last week.

Earlier, Bovell had underlined his credentials by being the fastest qualifier out of the heats. He won heat four in 53.36 to beat Serbia’s Boris Stojanovic (54.09) and German Marco Koch (54.18). In the final Stojanovic was sixth in 53.86, while Koch did not compete.

And to complete what was a virtual repeat of his efforts in these events in Doha last week, Bovell once more failed to get into the final of the 50m breaststroke yesterday.

Swimming in heat four, he was fifth in 27.61 behind Italian Fabio Scozzoli (26.57), American Miller (27.16), Marek Botik of Slovakia (27.28) and Jorge Valdez Murillo of Colombia (27.34). However, while it was a slower swim for Bovell than last week’s effort of 27.51, it still placed him tenth overall, just as he had been in Doha.

This morning, Bovell will attempt to at least match last week’s effort in the 50m freestyle. He got joint silver in Doha with Poland’s Konrad Czerniak in 21.43 as they both finished behind the USA’s Josh Schneider (21.07).

Today Bovell will begin his quest for a fourth medal in the series competing in heat eight, which will also include Czerniak. Schneider swims in heat seven. The World Cup series will be on a break after today until the third leg in Hong Kong from September 29-30.

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