Both sides are desperate for points with Defence Force (eight points) and Police FC (six) currently occupy sixth and eight positions respectively on the 2017 standings and separated by Morvant Caledonia (seven points), who face second-placed Club Sando in one of four north-vssouth clashes over a five-day period.

Gordon’s side edged Police 1-0 on June 12 when both sides last met at the start of the current season to lead the head-to-head dating back to December 2015 with four wins, while Police have three wins—none of the seven clashes ending in a draw.

“This is a rivalry that goes way back,” continued Gordon. “(…) and has always been in football.

So we are just continuing in the tradition. We take games against Police very personal because the tradition is that we don’t want to lose against Police, and likewise, Police don’t want to lose against us.” “A rivalry will always exist between Police and Defence Force,” echoed Police coach Richard Hood. “It’s a tradition I try to maintain, although I’d say it’s a friendly rivalry. Army nor Police wants to lose to each other.

“I am unaware of the [recent] statistics and it don’t matter too much. But most definitely we want to win the game (today).

We have been dropping too many points in games we were supposed to win this season, and dropping points in games were good enough to draw.”

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The 22-year-old Richards, who faced the starter in lane seven, overcame a wet track, caused by occasional rain, to cross the finish line in 20.11 seconds, the same as prerace favourite Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa, while Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev captured gold in 20.09.

However, in the photo-finish, Van Niekerk, the World and Olympic 400m champ, was .106 of a millisecond while Richards was .107.

Nethaneel Mitchell-BLake of Great Britain was fourth in 20.24, folloed by Ameer Webb of the United States (20.26), Isaac Makwala of Botswana (20.44), Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan (20.63) and Isiah Young of the United States (20.64).

Offering congratulations was Member of Parliament for Point Fortin (Richards’ constituency) and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon.

“We all know quite well that overcoming the challenges that confronted you on your journey to this historic day was no small feat,” said Dillon, in a media release.

“However, you persevered, and today you stand as one fine example of what it takes to shine among the best in the world.” Another Point Fortin native and ex-national 200m and 400m champ Alvin Daniel, in a telephone interview, noted, “A little inexperience kicked in a bit (as) he didn’t run the bend as he used to. But I think he picked up silver though.” Daniel stated, “I hope that people (corporate TT ) will come out and support these guys and not wait for them to do something.” The ex-national star is hopeful that Richards will participate for the national team in the men’s 4×400-metre relay this weekend.

Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 Olympic champ and 2016 bronze medallist, booked a place in tomorrow’s javelin final.

Walcott, who featured in the second group of the preliminary round phase, registered a throw of 86.01 metres, behind Czech Republic’s Petr Frydrych who had a mark of 86.22m. Andreas Hoffman of Germany was third with 85.62m.

In the first group, Johannes Vetter of Germany had the best distance thus far of 91.20m, ahead of Tero Pitkamaki of Finland (85.97m) and Ahmed Bader Magour of Qatar (83.83m).

But there was no such joy for Semoy Hackett, who finished seventh and last in the second, of three semi-final races, in the women’s 200m. Hackett completed the race in 23.54 seconds, with Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas (22.49) and United States’ Kimberlyn Duncan (22.73) qualifying.

Other participants were Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland (23.00), Simone Facey of Jamaica (23.01), Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain (23.24) and Bianca Williams of Great Britain (23.40), while Brazil’s Rosangela Santos was disqualified.

Today, Deborah John will make her entry into the World Champs when she competes in heat five, in the preliminary round, of the women’s 100-metre hurdles – scheduled to begin at 5.45 am (TT time). The semi-final stage is carded for 2.05 pm (TT time).

Just as happened with the top achievers of the SE A, so it will be for the CSE C and CAPE high achievers: They will be celebrated — as well they should. But there is a group to whom little attention is paid, though they too, have achieved.

These are the students not regarded as top performers.

However, they deserve to be commended. They have sat in the same classes as the high achievers and were required to meet the same deadlines on their assignments. They sacrificed sleep, family outings and a social life in general in order to study. They too, attended private lessons or disciplined themselves to the rigorous assistance of friends and family members who utilised every spare moment to coach them just to ensure their success.

They cannot boast of making the Scholars’ List. They will not be asked for interviews. They will remain unknown to the national community. But they performed well nonetheless.

These are students who months before the exams (and their parents and teachers could attest) would have out rightly failed or barely passed, but by applying themselves and embracing the support given, were able to improve their scores in the exams to a more than satisfactory level. They have every reason to be proud.

They worked hard. They persevered.

And they too have achieved.

Among them as well is another group that has excelled.

These are students who did not perform as well as they could or would have liked because of ailments on the day of the exams or because of continual challenges with chronic health conditions. These are students who had to keep focused in the midst of grave illness or the sudden passing of loved ones.

These are they who held after- school jobs and returned home late and exhausted to do homework and study, sometimes for exams that were in a few hours’ time. And what about those students who come from dire poverty, leaving home without proper meals, from environments of continual strife, yet prepared and presented themselves for their exams? These are the determined ones who did not let adversity of any kind stand in their way of achieving and though they did not scale the accepted pinnacle, they know as well as their families and teachers, that they excelled. These are special students. They achieved in the midst of very difficult circumstances, securing the opportunity to progress.

They are not considered top performers, but they showed tenacity, a strength in character that some parents with children in better circumstances wish their children would have. Congratulations to all you SE A, CSE C and CAPE students who can relate to any of these categories. You too, have done marvellously. Rejoice in the fruits of your labours.

Sandra Edwards via email

“I think there is more to wanting just a win against Caledonia,” said Eve. “Traditionally I have always gotten the better of (Morvant Caledonia coach) Jamaal Shabazz anywhere I have coached.” Morvant Caledonia, one of only two teams to defeat Sando this season, snapped an all-time 100 percent win-less run of six games against the southerners with a 2-1 win league on June 9—the start of the current season.

“Angus is a little upstart that I like,” Shabazz told www.ttproleague.

com. “And because of that it’s always interesting to come up against the teams he has coached. They (Sando) were our first and only win of the season thus far, and we want to go all out to add another three points to our tally.” Sando went on to lose against W Connection 3-1 in their second game but have since then recorded a six-game undefeated run and currently occupy second position with 14 points, two adrift of leaders North East Stars but only ahead of third-place Connection by goal-difference.

Shabazz’s squad, led by ex-national goalkeeper Glenroy Samuel, have been undefeated in four of their last six outings, and are on a three-game undefeated run.

Ex-Morvant Caledonia captain Akim Armstrong will again be among a feisty Sando bunch, which includes no-nonsense defenders Nicholas Thomas and Trevin Latapy and attacking midfielder Keron Cornwall.

Armstrong joined Sando in pre-season after seven years attached to Morvant Caledonia, barring a lengthy spell on the side-lined through injury and a stint in Finland.

Nical Stephens, Keyon Edwards, Tyrone Charles and Jamal Gay are also former Morvant Caledonia players with the latter three joining Sando via San Juan Jabloteh in pre-season.

“We look forward to meeting these sons of Caledonia,” Shabazz said. “…because it’s important for them to know who their daddy is.”

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An autopsy done at the Forensic Science Centre in St James revealed Bharat Ramadhin died as a result of massive head injuries consistent with the fall.

Ramadhin’s sisters Sharmilla and Shamin said although they had not been in contact with him for over a month, news of his death left them traumatised.

They said the 45-year-old man was a helpful, jovial person who would be greatly missed not only by family members but also his friends and villagers.

The money which was traced to Tortola, during the course of the joint police and Customs investigation, was found concealed between plywood inside the container, which was supposed to be cleared by a local businessman.

Up to yesterday, no charge was laid against the businessman for smuggling the cash into this country.

When the money was seized it was transported to the Customs and Excise building and placed in a vault. The money was transferred to a vault at the Central Bank following information that criminals were planning a heist on the Customs building.

In a release, the Customs and Excise Division revealed that Comptroller of Customs and Excise Glen Singh applied to the Magistrate’s Court for an order that the seized cash be forfeited to the State. Customs and Excise was represented by State Counsel Shirley Sheppard and on hearing evidence given by officers in the seizure, Couva Magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran granted the order after being satisfied that conditions of the forfeiture were fulfilled in accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act.

In a telephone interview with Newsday yesterday, Daren McLeod, former local government councillor and lead activist of Country FirsTT, said, “At this stage the petition is to show how many people support the group Country FirsTT and we believe there are more people supporting our petition because they are also HDC applicants.” The petition, started June 9, has gathered over 3000 signatures. The group aims to reach 5000 which they intend to carry to Minister of Housing and Urban Development Randall Mitchell in the hopes of furthering their call for an end to the lottery system used to allocate 60 per cent of HDC houses to the public and the creation of a more merit-based system. “There are people in stressful situations who are also low-income earners, they need help too.

The applicants for HDC housing call on the HDC to allocate these vacant units and to halt all new construction until these empty units are accounted for by applicants who have been waiting for as many as 35 years,” said Mc Leod.

Country FirsTT was established in 2011 and has been focusing on, what it deems as a housing crisis with reference to the right to adequate housing. In a public meeting held at City Hall, Port of Spain on July 21, the group obtained 300 physical signatures for their petition.

“Not everyone is online and we understand that, so we try to incorporate them into our cause,” said Mc Leod.

This, the TTMA says, will allow the process of container inspection to become as efficient as possible.

The association said it is concerned about the decision taken by the joint select committee of Parliament on July 3 to inspect 20 per cent of the units on the port and the impact it would have on the facilitation of trade for manufacturers.

“While the TTMA commends the Government on its commitment to national security, the negative impact on the ease of doing business cannot be denied. The delays caused by the increase in the percentage units assigned for inspection, coupled with the fact that the container scanners are yet to be given approval for utilisation by Customs and Excise, have made it increasingly difficult for manufacturers to meet optimum levels of exports and imports.”

During a one-hour meeting with Seales, the officer who has two years service and is the mother of a seven-year-old daughter, expressed concern over a decision by her landlord to evict her because of the adverse publicity. Coupled with that, the SRP believes with the loss of income during the investigation, she will not be able to take care of her daughter and herself, especially as she is in the first trimester of her pregnancy.

Newsday understands the controversial photos were taken between October and December following a function at the London Street, Port of Spain branch of the Office of Law Enforcement and Policy (OLEP).

The photos were taken by a male colleague as a joke and that colleague later claimed he lost his phone last week. He suggests that whoever found the phone uploaded the photos to social media where it quickly went viral.

However, the SRP is questioning the entire situation where the photos were leaked and while she accepts she should receive some form of punishment, she does not feel that dismissal is the right thing. Yesterday, following the meeting with the SRP, Seales told Newsday: “The association met and had discussions with the SRP.

He said the SRP presented her suspension letter from Acting Commissioner Stephen Williams and the wording was tantamount to telling her that she has been constructively dismissed, because the Commissioner has stopped her from being called out for duty.

“Because of that, it means the SRP would not get any income during the course of the investigation until the determination of a tribunal against her.

This is much different from regular police officers who would get half or three-quarter pay during such an investigation,” Seales said.

He added that the Association will write Commissioner Williams asking him to consider some of the factors the SRP has indicated with the view of him reconsidering his decision (to suspend) on humanitarian grounds.

He pointed out that the officer is inconsolable. Newsday understands the SRP is being investigated for her conduct and the officer who took the photos has been asked to submit a full report.

Yesterday, just before the signing ceremony set for 10 am at the Ministry of Caricom and Foreign Affairs at the International Financial Centre, Portof- Spain, the ministry issued a statement on the ceremony stating the invitation had been “rescinded”.

Later, the ministry issued a statement about the friendship between TT and China but giving absolutely no details as to the ship’s specifications, purpose, delivery date or cost, or the terms of the loan agreement. In the statement, minister Dennis Moses offered China condolences on the loss of life and destruction caused by an earthquake the night before in Sichuan Province.

He said the loan agreement joins 60 previous agreements between the two nations over the years, including major construction projects such as national sporting facilities, the Couva hospital and training facility and the National Academy for the Performing Arts in north and south Trinidad.

“In the area of security, our activities have included the outfitting of the National Operations Centre of Trinidad and Tobago, the provision of military aid, and training and development. Further, in an effort to assist in advancing initiatives between our military establishments, Trinidad and Tobago included the position of Military Attaché at our Embassy in Beijing.

“These accomplishments notwithstanding, the acquisition of the multi purpose patrol vessel for use by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, the first transaction of its kind between our countries, created a new chapter in our security cooperation.” On July 7, 2015, Newsday reported the signing ceremony for the acquisition of this vessel, with signatories being the ministry’s permanent secretary Carl Francis and China Shipbuilding Trading Company director Zhang Jinming.