TT squad leave for Special Olympics

The Games, which is scheduled to start on Saturday, would see Special Athletes from around the world representing their respective nations.

Newsday caught up with the TT team at the Piarco International Airport, just before they left for Austria.

Head of Delegation, Special Olympics TT , Candilla Bermant- Harper, said, “we have been doing well in Special Olympics all the time.

“For the past 24-odd years, our athletes have brought back gold, silver, bronze (medals) and ribbons as well.

We expect this team to do very well, and we ask them to do their best and nothing else.” The team would be representing TT in indoor floor hockey but, had initial plans been successful, SOTT would have carried at least one more team.

“We would have liked to also carry a Unified Floor Hockey team but we could only take one team this year because funding was not sufficient,” said Harper.

She explained that, even though more funding would have made it possible to carry another team, the corporate sponsorship from Atlantic LNG, Royal Bank , Caribbean Finance, The Ministry of Sport and other small donations was extremely appreciated by SOTT .

The Games would be shown on ESP N 2 and ABC.

The team’s other support staff includes head coach Drupatee Samaroo, coaches Devan Mahadeo, Ron Wiltshire and Claudia Francis, as well as assistant Head of Delegation Clayton Williams.

Special Olympics Ambassador, NFL wide receiver Dale Moss, has been selected to march with the TT team at the Parade of Athletes.