TRINIDAD and Tobago netball is in turmoil again.

Major problem facing the Trinidad and Tobago Netball Association is there is no Calypso Girls Netballers squad currently in training. This shocking development with the 11th edition of the World Netball Championships due in July. According to an informant, the TTNA are still planning to scrape together 12 players to present as Trinidad and Tobago representatives at the championships in Jamaica.

This will prevent the country from being fined and/or banned. The TTNA are also hoping to access funds from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs to send the hastily assembled team to the World Championships. Already the TTNA have missed the March 31 deadline date for sending their final team to the organising committee in Jamaica. At their March 29 annual general meeting, there was a TTNA administrative change with Tobagonian Martha Archer returning to the presidency, with outgoing president Naomi Regis-Gilkes now the new treasurer. At that AGM, national coach Grace Parkinson-Griffith handed in her resignation, allegedly citing personal reasons. But even before Parkinson-Griffith quit, players were not turning up for training sessions.

According to Pamela Cumberbatch, the previous TTNA secretary, only five and on very rare occasions eight players turned up for training, when a team at championships must comprise 12 players. The new TTNA administration are banking on brokering an agreement with the World Netball Championships Organising Committee to accept a late entry. They are now in the process of shopping around for a coach. Information is that  the name of the new coach is to be announced today, and another attempt will be made to interest players to come out for training sessions.

The International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) slapped a one-year ban on Trinidad and Tobago in 1990 for similarly missing a deadline to send a team to Karlsrhue, Germany, without reasonable excuse, after giving firm assurances they will be attending that tournament. Since becoming the only country, apart from perennial champions Australia and New Zealand, to win the world title, which they shared when the tournament was held here in 1979, the sport has been in a downward spiral. The Calypso Girls Netballers entered the 10th World Netball Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1999 ranked sixth, but at the end of that tournament had slipped to eighth, surpassed by Fiji who now fill that spot. The Fijians were ranked No. 28 before the start of the tournament.

Current IFNA rankings: 1. Australia; 2. New Zealand; 3. England; 4. Jamaica; 5. South Africa; 6. Fiji; 7. Cook Islands; 8. Trinidad and Tobago; 9. Samoa; 10. Barbados; 11. Maklawi; 12. Singapore; 13. Canada; 14. Wales; 15. United States; 16. Northern Ireland; 17. Zambia; 18. Papua New Guinea; 19. Malaysia; 20. Scotland; 21. Sri Lanka; 22. Tonga; 23. Cayman Islands; 24. Hong Kong; 25. Niue; 26. Vanuatu.

GEORGETOWN: Off-spinner Omari Banks yesterday became the first player from the tiny Leeward Island of Anguilla to be selected to the senior West Indies cricket team.

The 20-year-old Banks and Ramnaresh Sarwan of Guyana are included in a 15-man squad to face Australia in the Second Test, which starts in Trinidad on Saturday. Sarwan, who was nominated vice-captain, has fully recovered from a fractured middle finger on his left hand. The 22-year-old had a final workout on the Bourda pitch on Sunday following Australia’s nine-wicket victory in the first of four Tests. Banks is included as the only specialist spinner. The 13 players who were selected for the First Test remain on the squad although wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs is likely to miss out after tearing a muscle in his groin during the West Indies loss. He will get a second opinion on the severity of the injury once the squad arrives in Trinidad today.

The squad: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Carlton Baugh, David Bernard, Omari Banks, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson. Coach: Gus Logie. Manager: Ricky Skerritt. (AP)

GEORGETOWN: Australia captain Steve Waugh says his side will do all it can to make sure that West Indies do not make a comeback in the Cable and Wireless 2003 Cricket Series after his side won the opening Test Match by nine wickets at Bourda Oval on Sunday here.

 Waugh recalled that in the corresponding series four years ago, West Indies came close to taking the series after Australia won the opening Test at Port-of- Spain by an innings and 322 runs. “We have learnt our lesson from four years ago, when we were complacent in the second and third Tests and paid the price,” Waugh told reporters at the post-match news conference. “When you are down in a four-match series, it’s not easy coming back. Even from playing this match, I know that West Indies have quite a few good batsmen and they may be stronger in the second Test, so we have to be at our best to make sure that we play well and not let them come back.”

Waugh acknowledged the dismissal of Brian Lara as the turning point in the match after the West Indies captain hit his 19th Test hundred to give his side some hope of saving the match. “At two for 290 on Saturday, the match was back on an even keel and it shows just what can happen in this Test series if we do not play well, but the wicket of Lara was crucial,” he said. “It was a chance wicket and we were fortunate to have gotten him. We made the most of it and that’s what good sides do. They make the most of their fortune, but this series will not be a stroll in the park. We have to play well to beat this side.”

Waugh was not too concerned that Lara shone in the second innings because the result of the match speaks for itself. “He’s a great player and he showed it again with his innings on Saturday; it was technically a good innings with a lot of power and placement,” he remarked. “There are only a few batsmen in the world that can make you change your field with the way they play their strokes and Brian is one of them. But we won this Test match by nine wickets, so I am not worried about Brian Lara. I’m worried about Australian cricket and how we are going to win. Brian can have a hundred every time if we win by nine wickets.” The Australians had another reason to celebrate. Opening batsman Justin Langer was named “Man-of-the-Match”. The second Test starts on Saturday in Port-of- Spain. 

FRESH from outstanding performances at the Barbados Junior open on Friday, Joshua Galt, Tracey Clarke and Diana Torry yesterday swept into the lead in their respective divisions on the first day of the Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago Junior Golf Open.

In testing conditions on the bone hard, and lightning fast greens of the St Andrew’s Golf Club course at Moka, Maraval 10-year-old Galt holds a two-shot lead among the Under-17 Boys; Clarke is a runaway leader by 16 strokes in the Girls 13-15 group; while Torry holds a commanding 22-shot lead in the Girls 16-18 division. In the competitive Boys 13-15 age group, another Trinidad and Tobago player, Simon Merry, who had a level par 72 yesterday topped his compatriot Robert Llanos by three strokes. Barbadian Paige Bailey is one shot off the pace followed by TT’s Nick Voss and Darren Boardley who are tied a further two shots adrift. Rising star Ben Martin is next, one stroke back tied with Dahomey Kadera.

A tense battle for supremacy looms in the Girls 12 and Under category when after the first round there is a four-way tie for first. On a day when high scores were the order of the day, Anneke Ward, Catherine Clarke, Natalya Ramatula and Kelsey Lou Hing, all of TT, returned identical scores of 106. The only overseas entrant to fare well on the opening day of the championship was Denzille Phillip of St Kitts whose three over par 75 saw him take the initial advantage in the Boys 16 to 18 category. Second was promising TT player Shane Costelloe, two shots adrift with Barbadian Adam Farmer and TT’s Jesse Bocock both on 81 for a share of third. The tournament continues today.

Scores
Girls Under-12: 1 Anneke Ward 106;  Catherine Clarke 106; Natalya Ramatula 106; Kelsey Lou Hing 106.
Girls Under-15: 1 Tracy Clarke 74; 2 Victoria Seenath 90; 2. Deahana Ramnath 90.
Girls Under-18: 1. Diana Torry 80; 2 Nikesha Trim (Tobago)102.
Boys Under-15: 1 Simon Merry 72; 2 Robert Llanos 75; 3 Paige Bailey (B’dos) 76; 4 Nick Voss; Daren Boardley 78.
Boys Under-12: 1 Joshua Galt 84; 2 Glen Charlett 86; 3 Talin Rajendranath; Timothy Martin 89
Boys Under-18: 1 Denzille Phillip (St Kitts) 75; 2 Shane Costelloe 77; 3 Adam Farmer (B’dos) 81; Jesse Bocock 81.

DHAKA: South Africa beat Bang-ladesh by 83 runs after scoring a formidable 294 runs for three in the third match of the limited-overs tri-nation cricket series at Dhaka’s Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

A four wicket haul by former captain Shaun Pollock, backed by Allan Dawson’s three wickets, helped South Africa post their first win of the tournament. South Africa lost to India by 153 runs on Sunday. Mohammad Ashraful helped Bangladesh narrow their huge deficit by scoring 52 runs off 93 balls with seven boundaries, before South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher stopped him off a Paul Adams delivery. Eighteen-year-old Ashraful, who became the youngest Test centurion ever by making 114 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2001, was adjudged “Man of the Match.”

Ashraful’s second wicket partnership with Habibul Bashar added 58 runs to the Bangladesh total of 211 all out. Batting down the line in eighth place, new Bangladeshi captain Khaled Mahmud put up a good fight, scoring 40 runs off 41 balls with six boundaries, before being caught by Neil McKenzie off a Makhya Ntini ball. It was Bangladesh’s 34th consecutive defeat in One-Day Internationals. Bangladesh crashed to 77 runs in reply to India’s 276 in their opening match of the tournament.

Boeta Dippenaar and Neil McKenzie led the visitors to a commanding total, with undefeated 105 runs in the fourth wicket partnership. Dippenaar made an unbeaten 66 off 80 balls with seven boundaries, while his partner remained not out with 55 off 68 balls hitting two fours and a six. Mohammed Rafique was the most successful among the Bangladeshi bowlers, claiming two wickets for 43 runs in 10 overs. Leg-spinner Alok Kapali was the most economical, conceding only four runs in 10 overs.

TEMPE: Trinidad and Tobago’s world junior champion Darrel Brown tuned up for his Carifta Games 100-metre title defence with a fine win over Ghana’s world star Leonard Myles-Mills at the Sun Angel Classic on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Brown, currently based in Alabama, USA, topped his field in 10.24 seconds a week ahead of his Carifta Games appearance at home in Port-of-Spain. Jamaican Marvin Anderson won the other 100-metre race in the same time, 10.24 seconds. Brown, who won the 100-metre gold at the 2002 World Junior Championship in Jamaica in a meet record 10.09 seconds, outsped Myles-Mills (10.31) and American Dwight Phillips (10.34) to claim his win. Anderson won his race ahead of Trinidadian Marc Burns (10.57). Former CARIFTA Games shot put champion Candice Scott, of Trinidad and Tobago, won the women’s hammer at 66.22 metres.

RAHUL Rampersad, Justin Sui and Vikie Singh emerged the new Solo Junior champions when the Trinidad and Tobago Badminton Association Annual Junior Championships ended at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena on Sunday.

After two days of torrid action from the nation’s most talented and enthusiastic racquet wielders over the weekend, Rampersad and his Presentation College (Chaguanas) schoolmate Justin Sui stole the spotlight with triple crowns. The lanky Rampersad, a fifth form student who is currently preparing for the regional CXC examinations, showed his class and stamina by winning the Under-19 Boys singles and doubles titles and the mixed doubles crown. Sui did a similar trick in the Under-17 category, but was forced out of the grand finale in the Under-19 match-up with Rampersad because of cramps sustained during the final set of a three-set showdown when the set scores were even.

Vikie Singh of Gasparillo Composite and the St Margaret’s Badminton Club, confirmed her status as a bright prospect by capturing the Girls Under-19 and Under-17 individual singles crowns. The 15-year-old student, competing in the higher divisions for the first time, showed remarkable court-craft and tactical acumen as she disposed of the highly-favoured Kelly-Ann Sampson in a fiercely-contested Under-19 final.

Singh won the first set at 11-9 but Sampson fought back courageously to grab the second at 8-11. And the third set proved equally exciting and taxing, but Vickie triumphed at 11-9.
She was also extended in the Under-17 final by a determined Neikesha Blake who took the second set at 3-11 after the newly-crowned champion took the first at 11-3. Singh won the third at 11-7 and seems destined for an exciting badminton career. Rampersad made the ultimate sacrifice to combine studies with his badminton career and gained immense pleasure in achieving his life long goal — securing a triple crown tandem at 15-11, 15-17 and 15-7.

TTBA Solo National Junior Champonships Honour Roll:

UNDER 19 CATEGORY
Boys Singles Champion: RAHUL RAMPERSAD.
Boys Doubles Champions: RAHUL RAMPERSAD and KERRON GARCIA.
Mixed Doubles Champions: RAHUL RAMPERSAD and NEIKESHA BLAKE.
Girls Singles Champion: VIKIE SINGH.
Girls Doubles Champion: KELLY-ANN SAMPSON and KIMBERLEY CLARKE.

UNDER 17 CATEGORY
Boys Singles Champion: JUSTIN SUI.
Boys Doubles Champion: JUSTIN SUI and EARNESTO DEAN.
Mixed Doubles Champion: JUSTIN SUI and KERRY-ANN QUAN CHEE.
Girls Singles Champion: VIKIE SINGH.
Girls Doubles Champion: NEIKSHA BLAKE and S. JAMES.

UNDER 15 CATEGORY
Boys Singles Champion: MITRA RAMCHARRAN.
Girls Singles Champion: CINDY ANN BALLANTYNE.
Boys Doubles Champion: ANIL BHAGWANDEEN and INSAF HOSEIN.

IN SWINGER, Adawar and Time To Fly will head the weights for the three handicaps events on the Arima Race Club Day 12 card at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, on Easter Monday.

American-bred In Swinger was handed the top impost of 56.5 kilos for the Restricted Handicap over 1100 metres on the turf. The dash could well have a full complement of 12 runners facing the starter on the April 21 holiday card, as 18 horses were pencilled in at the entry stage for the $18,000 purse yesterday. In the speed contest, In Swinger has been asked to hand out from 0.5 kilos to Sea Spider, the new record holder for the distance on the grass, to 12 kilos to Guardian Angel and Touch Wood,  who sit at the bottom of the weight table with 44.5 kilos. Also among the field of top sprinters in the grass contest are Infallibility and Bandinthong.

Runner-up in the 1999 Royal Oak Derby, Infallibility who showed up for a long way at the front on his first appearance in almost two years, has been assigned 55.5 kilos, with the younger Bandinthong, who lost his winning sequence when finishing second to record-breaker Sea Spider, toting four kilos less. Adawar, who was voted champion imported stayer and “Horse of The Year” last year, heads the weight in the UPTC Champagne Stakes with 57.5 kilos. The John O’Brien inmate who will be making his seasonal debut in the 1600 metres turf event, will be handing out three kilos to Sugar Mike, four to stable companion Phantom Bidder, and 13.5 to Sure Ting, who was handed the penny stamp of 44 kilos in the seven-strong field.

Weights for the main course were also posted against runners listed to participate in both turf events. These weights were allotted in the event the grass races have to be shifted to the main course. Time To Fly heads the weights in the sole handicap on the main course. The Harold Chadee inmate will tote the highweight of  56.5 kilos in the 1200 metres contest.

Following are the entries, and weights for the handicap events.

RACE 7: 1986 SKY ROCKET – RESTRICTED HANDICAP – W.I BRED 3 Y.O AND OVER WINNERS AND IMPORTED 3 Y.O & OVER – PURSE $18,000 –  1100 METRES (TURF).
1. In Swinger – 56.5 (55.5), 2. Sea Spider – 56 (53.5), 3. Infallibility – 55.5 (56.5), 4. Kaser’s Gold – 53.  (54.5), 5. Isle Be True – 52.5 (54.5), 6. Bandinthong – 51.5 (51.5), 7. Lovely Honoree – 50 (50), 8. Foucault Pendulum – 50 (50), 9. Squeezed Moment – 49.5 (49.5), 10. Tricky Guy – 48.5 (48.5), 11. Emelda M – 48 (44.5), 12. Bazodee Gal – 47.5 (48.5), 13. Mir On Fire – 47 (47), 14. Not To Worrie – 46 (46), 15. Life In Russia – 45 (48), 16. Politics – 45 (45), 17. Guardian Angel – 44.5 (44.5), 18. Touch Wood – 44.5 (44.5). 

RACE 8: UPTC CHAMPAGNE STAKES HANDICAP (GRADE 11) (OPEN) 3 Y.O & OVER – PURSE $75,000 – 1600 METRES, (TURF).
1. Adawar – 57.5 (57.5), 2. Sugar Mike – 54.5 (54.5), 3. Smooth Operator – 53 (51), 4. Phantom Bidder – 52 (52.5), 5. Invincibility – 50 (50), 6. My Son John – 46 (46), 7. Sure Ting – 44 (44).

 RACE 9: 1993 LAST CHANCE HANDICAP – W.I BRED 3 Y.O WINNERS – PURSE $18,000 – 1200 METRES.
1. Time To Fly – 56.5, 2. Francesca – 55.5, 3. Lady Rossie – 53.5, 4. Reign Of Fire – 53, 5. Hyarima – 50.5, 6. Upset All – 49.5, 7. Sweet Laura Lee – 49.