National hurdler, Josanne Lucas missed out on securing a coveted 2014 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games podium place for Trinidad and Tobago in the Women’s 100m hurdles final yesterday after finishing fourth, when action continued on day-12 at the Heriberto Jara Athletic Stadium in Veraccruz, Mexico.

Running out of lane eight, Lucas clocked a time of 13.62 seconds.

Additionally, Kyle Greaux advanced to the final of the Men’s 200m event last night, finishing third fastest (20.83s). The final was scheduled to run off last night but up to press time, results were unavailable.

In the same event, Emmanuel Callender was disqualified in his semi-final try.

Kendis Bullard (1:53.63) also did not make the cut for the Men’s 800m final as he crossed the finish line in fifth position of semi-final one.

Additionally, Olympic sailor Andrew Lewis was fifth and fourth in Race Six and Seven respectively of the Men’s Laser category at Gaviotas Beach yesterday. Female sailor, Cecilia Wollmann also had a fair showing as she was seventh and 14th in the same stages of the Women’s Laser Radial Series.

In badminton at the Omega Complex, both Nekeisha Blake and Jada Renales were eliminated from their Women’s Singles Round of 16 campaign yesterday. Having successfully conquered Daigenis Saturria (Dominican Republic) 21-14, 21-18 in the previous round, Blake fell victim to the Cuban athlete, Adriana Artiz, 12-21, 12-21. Renales had a similar exit as she went down 9-21, 6-21 at the hands of Puerto Rican Genesis Valentin.

In Men’s Singles action, youngster Will Lee bowed out of the Round of 16 losing out 17-21, 12-21 to Bajan Andre Padmore. Kerwyn Pantin was also unable to get past his man and lost 15-21, 18-21 to Willian Cabrera (Dominican Republic) in the Round of 32.

The TT beach volleyball team also began their tourney at Reino Magico yesterday but were beaten 1-2 by El Salvador. TT lost the opening set 16-21, bounced back to win the second 21-16, but could not capitalise and lost the third set 12-15.

And in volleyball news, the men’s team had a shaky start to their CAC campaign as they lost their opening match 0-3 to Mexico on Tuesday night.

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Trinidad and Tobago’s Josanne Lucas will be trying to secure another Central America and Caribbean (CAC) games medal for this country when she lines up in the women’s 100 metre hurdle final at the Heriberto Jara Atletic Stadium in Veracruz, Mexico, today.
Lucas was third in the first semi-final yesterday, crossing the line in 13.79 seconds to qualify for the final. Columbia’s Lina Marcela Florez won the ‘semi’ in 13.31 seconds while Venezuela’s Genesis Romero finished second in 13.62 seconds.
The other semi-final yesterday was fast with Columbia’s Briggite Maria Merlano finishing first in 13.14 second. Lucas will run out of lane eight in today’s final. In other track and field results yesterday, T&T’s Akeem Stewart just missed out on a medal in the men’s shot put.
Stewart’s best effort was an 18.08m throw which was good enough for fourth place. Mexico’s Mario Cota won the event with a 19.30m effort. T&T’s Quincy Wilson throw 16.11m to finish in sixth place.
Today T&T’s badminton players will hit courts at Omega Complex with Nekeisha Blake will take on Daigenis Saturria of the Dominican Republic in women’s singles Round of 32 action.
T&T’s Kerwyn Pantin will face Willian Cabrera of the Dominican Republic in the men’s singles round of 32 match. Jada Renales (women’s singles) and Will Lee (men’s singles) will also see action today in the round of 16 of the Badminton competition.
Renales teams up with Keiran Quan Chee for the women’s doubles contest against Guatemala’s Beatriz Ramos and Nikte Sotomayor while Pantin and Alistair Espinoza will face the Domincan Republic pair of Nelsol Javier and Alberto Rapozo in the men’s doubles competition.
The T&T men’s water polo team will also be in action today against Cuba while boxer Michael Alexander will face Mexico’s Lindolfo Delgado in the men’s 60kg light semi-finals at the World Trade Centre Veracruz.

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...national team’s fifth-place finish best ever at CAC Games

The management of the Super 10 Basketball League (SBL) has congratulated to the Trinidad and Tobago senior women’s basketball team for their performance in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games where they placed a creditable fifth following their 70-61 win over Costa Rica on Sunday in Mexico.
Despite trailing in the first half 31-38 T&T led by centres Patrice Edwards (captain) and Afeisha Noel with 17 points each rallied to beat El Salvador 70-61 in the final play-off for 5th and 6th positions.
They were supported by point-guard Jowan Ortega 14 points and centre Samantha Wallace with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
T&T won three of its five matches at the CAC games while Jamaica, who are the reigning CBC Champions were beaten by Costa Rica 58-52 for 7th place. Jamaica ended last with no wins in five matches.
In a media release issued on Monday, the management of the league said “It’s the country’s best placing at the CAC Games which makes it a very proud and creditable performance for T&T which placed fourth at the Caribbean Basketball Championships (CBC) in July”
The SBL will also be placing greater emphasis on its women’s division in the upcoming season which will jump-off on December 14 at the Jean Pierre Sports complex, Port of Spain.
“The Trinidad and Tobago women have played in every CBC Championships since 2008 and Centrobasket Tournaments in 2009, 2011 and 2012,” the release added.
“This is the start that T&T basketball needed to move away from the CBC and Centrobasket tournaments in its attempt to vie for more top quality competition that is recognised under the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The next stage is the Pan American Games and FIBA Americas tournament. The leadership of the technical staff headed by Coach Christopher Jackson Charles and team skipper Patrice Edwards must be commended.”

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Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath said that forking out millions of dollars to host the Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 semi-finals and finals for the next two years is not in the best interest of local cricket.
In a TTCB press release yesterday, Bassarath said “Hosting six matches for $42 million does not make any sense to us when we feel that the funds are desperately needed elsewhere, for instance to pay the debt owed to the T&T Cricket Board amounting close to $24 million which has accumulated over the past four years.”
According to the TTCB press release, a proposal currently before Cabinet for the allocation of more than US$7 million towards the staging of the semi-finals and final of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Twenty20 for two years. The release said “TTCB officials are shocked about the development, saying the returns are questionable on a project which hands over more than TT $42 million to a private foreign entity to stage only six matches in T&T over two years.”
“The TTCB has no connection with the CPL. We do not prepare the teams nor pick the final XI or stage the matches. So there is no opportunity for the local game to get any trickled down effect for the exorbitant sum of the money being talked about,” said the TTCB president about the latest developments.
The release noted that “apart from settling the outstanding debt to the TTCB, it was also felt that funds destined for the CPL could be better utilised in the development of the National Cricket Centre at Balmain, Couva up to international level.”
“If Government is really interested in getting value for money it should support the development of the sport at the grassroots level which helps builds communities, creates opportunities for young people, both male and female throughout the country,” the TTCB release added.

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TRINIDAD and Tobago failed to win a set when the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games Men’s Volleyball Tournament served off Tuesday in Veracruz, Mexico. The Caribbean champions were rank outsiders against the hosts and were beaten 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 in 72 minutes.
However Simon Blake scored ten points and was the only player on either team to reach double figures. And veteran skipper Nolan Tash contributed nine points.
The Mexicans had the edge in kills (36-27), blocked shots (4-3) and service winners (7-5) in the fourth and final match on the schedule. And in the other Group A encounter, Dominican Republic defeated Colombia 25-18, 25-19, 27-25.
There was a major stunner in Group B as three-time defending champs Puerto Rico were defeated 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 29-27 by Venezuela. However the Cubans restored some sanity to the group with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-15 victory over Bahamas.
The group winners will advance directly into Saturday night’s semi-finals, while the runners-up and third-placed teams will contest tomorrow night. The champions will be crowned on Sunday. T&T will tackle Dominican Republic when the group stage of the tournament ends today.

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Olympic sailor Andrew Lewis is revamping his training technique in preparation for participation in pre-Olympic qualifying event now taking place around the world, as he works to secure a place for T&T in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Having previously worked with a coach from Peru, Lewis was now in the care of an Italian.

In a G-Sport interview, he said, “This is something completely opposite from what I used to do. I used to work with a South American coach in Peru, now I am working with an Italian. The European style is totally different from the South American style. I would say it’s very military-like; a day-to-day programme, which is set in stone. And, it has a very nice progression to it.”

He added, “I never had a programme like this. I am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I’ve been feeling excellent. I have had a lot of positives coming of it so far.”

Lewis, through his relationship with American laser sailor Charlie Buckingham, travelled to Long Beach, California, where he joined the United States training camp for two months in preparation for the World Championships, which took place in Santander, Spain, back in September. That event marked the start of qualification events for Rio Olympics 2016.

Of that experience, he said “You don’t get into jar with these guys very often. It’s a big privilege for a small guy like me from T&T to join the Americans. They realised my talent in the light-wind, which they were still working to master. Similarly, I wanted to achieve their technique when dealing with heavy winds. We have a little bit to get from each other. We are competitive, but we are very good friends and the only way to get better is training with the best. We’ve got to take what we can from each other and may the best man win,” he said.

Apart from that training camp, Lewis described his US tour experiences for 2014 as “successful,” having achieved top ten places in almost all of his races, leaving him in a good competitive position.

Lewis said, “That’s where I need to be right now. My goal is to consistently be in the top ten to be able to target medals. I am hitting my target which is nice and I am improving as much as I can. I went to Europe to do some meets. I suffered an injury, but everything is good now. I finished off the tour very well with some top five races, which is what I needed to be doing. Eventually, it would be the top three and then the medals start to come.”

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