Daniel laments Brown’s omission

Brown was sixth in the Men’s 100 metres final at the Sagicor-sponsored NAAA National Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday, clocking 10.13 seconds.

Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson smashed the national record in a blistering 10.85 seconds while Keston Bledman was second in 10.06 with Aaron Armstrong third in 10.07.

On Monday the NAAA administration omitted Brown from the 4x100m relay team, instead opting for Thompson, Bledman, Armstrong, Marc Burns who was fourth in the 100m final in 10.08, Emmanuel Callender fifth in 10.12 and Rondel Sorrillo seventh 10.17.

Daniel was adamant, however, that Brown’s performance warranted a place on the team.

“With an athlete of that calibre you don’t want to crash his dreams. He’s on his way back. We’re too quick to write off our sportsmen when they get an injury,” he said.

Daniel noted that injuries are a part of an athlete’s career and this must also be factored in.

“He (Brown) had a muscle injury. I had injury problems as well. He needs more work but he seems to be in pretty good shape. He just needs a couple races under his belt to get back to peak form,” he explained.

“Tyson (Gay) has had problems but USA have supported him. Why should we write off our athletes? We like winners but we do not study what you have to go through to be a winner,” he added.

He pointed out that several of the athletes on the relay team will compete in individual events and may have to negotiate four rounds of competition to the final so it will be in the interest of TT to have Brown available focussing primarily on the relays.

“We need to have fresh legs. I think he definitely should be on the team. If we don’t have enough money to carry him then we should sacrifice an official,” he explained.

Although not close to his best for a few years, Daniel remains confident that Brown can replicate his early career form and even improve.

“If you look at the Championships, the standard was very high. Rondel Sorillo (seventh place) did 10.17. I think he (Brown) has potential that we haven’t seen as yet,” the ex-CAC silver medallist said.

“Darrel has problems but with the Olympics next year you have a guy who can easily make it into the (Olympic) 100m final if he is on form. Why not have him as part of this team?”he questioned.