BRIDGETOWN: Bermuda opened their bid for the men’s team title at the Caribbean Squash Championship with a crushing win over Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 on Monday night.
Bermuda shot past TT 5-0 in their Pool “B” match, while defending overall team champions Barbados squeezed a tight 3-2 win over the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in Pool “A” at the Marine Gardens Squash Courts. Led by men’s champion Gary Plumstead and runner-up Nick Kyme, Bermuda outplayed the Trinidadians, who rested their top player Paul Devertueil for the tie. The Barbados/OECS tie went down to the wire with the home side clinching victory through triumphs by Gavin Cumberbatch over Charlie Sonson, Marlon White beating Paul Cyrus, and Shawn Simpson getting past Gabbe Rabess 3-0. The OECS claimed their wins when their number two James Bentick beat Andy Gill and Jason Noon stopped John Cumberbatch. Earlier in the day, women’s champion Marlene West led Jamaica to a 4-1 victory over Guyana in women’s team play. The Jamaicans also registered wins in men’s play when they beat Venezuela 4-1, and in veterans’ competition, 2-1 ahead of Guyana. Trinidad and Tobago defeated the OECS 2-1 in another veterans match.
BAJAN challenger Feet On Flames had his first taste of the turf course at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, yesterday, since arriving here last week.
The Luther Miller-owned horse had a handy spin over 1200 metres completed in 1:17.2 seconds as he kicked into full preparation for the Sagicor Independence Cup over 1850 metres on the Independence Day holiday, September 1. Two other Independence Cup entrants Canaima and Morgan Heritage covered the same distance in the identical time – 1:17.2 seconds. But the star of the morning was Retired Banker, which entered for the Arima Race Club Nursery Stakes. This two-year-old stepped 400 metres in 27.5 seconds, and is rounding into top shape for the nursery over 1200 metres on September 24. Three-year-old Return To Glory had a good gallop over 1000 metres in 1:09.2 seconds. And Bajan Connection showed he has kept his form well, zipping through 600 metres in a very good 35.5 seconds, and another good run over this trip came from Calypso Rose in 39.2 seconds. Best on the clock over 800 metres yesterday morning was speedster Movietowne Magic, who stepped the distance in 47 seconds.
Gallops recorded yesterday:
400 METRES – AFFIRM DECISION – 29.9; BORN TO CHARM – 29.9; JAY-LOW – 29.0; LIVING IN HOPE – 28.9; RETIRED BANKER – 27.5; UNDERCOVER ANGEL – 28.9.
600 METRES – BAJAN CONNECTION – 35.5; CALYPSO ROSE – 39.2; FOUCAULT PENDULUM – 42.3; MISTER HYPORCRIT – 44.5; SAADIYA -42.1; SUPER GREY – 44.9.
800 METRES – ACTUAL LADY – 51.3; BLONDIE – 55.2; COTONOU – 52.3; FIRST TIME – 56.3; HYARIMA – 59.9; MOVIETOWNE MAGIC – 47.0; RING DANG DO – 59.9; SOU SOU MONI – 58.9; SWEET TEMPO – 49.6; YAA ASANTEWAA – 59.9.
1000 METRES – CREME CARAMEL – 1:14.5; RETURN TO GLORY -1:09.2; THE CHAIRMAN – 1:11.1.
1200 METRES – CANAIMA – 1:17.2 (Turf); FEET ON FLAMES – 1:17.2 (Turf); MORGAN HERITAGE – 1:17.2 (Turf).
OWNERS and trainers of horses to have won on the six days between Day 18 and Day 23 are now free to collect their cheques.
According to Trinidad and Tobago Racing Authority secretary David Loregnard, equine urine/blood samples taken from the 53 horses involved, were declared negative. Among the owners listed to collect their winning prize money are Bertwin Samlalsingh, whose Sugar Mike won the Santa Rosa Dash on June 18, and was also a winner on August 1. Another to enjoy a double success was Wilma Primus whose 2001 triple crown winner Carnival Messiah won on June 20 and again on June 28, Merlin Samlalsingh whose Sweet Tempo won the Santa Rosa Classic on July 12 and repeated on August 1, Harold Chadee owner-trainer of Peace Consort, a winner on June 28 and July 19, Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj owner-trainer of Smooth Operator, winner on June 20 and July 19 and Junior Sammy’s Bite De Bullet winner on June 28 and July 12.
Here are the winners declared dope free:
June 20 (Day 18) – Lovely Pearl; Carnival Messiah; Undisputed; Smooth Operator; Joan Of Arc; Baggy Green; Living In Hope; Sugar Mike; Top Of The Class; Gold Conveyor.
June 28 (Day 19) – Fantastic Lad; Life In Russia; Cold Risk; Bite De Bullet ; Lovely Honoree; Topuch Wood; Sir Vidia; Affirm Decision; Carnival Messiah; Peace Consort.
July 5 (Day 20) – Skylite; Hundred Percent; Punto A Punto; Politics; Golden Boy; Badpayjamesee; Sunny; Kalyan; Hatrick; Millenium Reign.
July 15 (Day 21) – Yankee Eagle; Finest Gem; Celebration Time; Firestorm; Take Charge; Lovely Pearl; The Guv’nor; Dottie’s Way; Sweet Tempo; Bite De Bullet.
July 19 (Day 22) – All Set For Battle; Bobs Treasure; Isle Be True; Smooth Operator; Ruby Rich; Estilon; Lady Rossie; First Time; V For Victory; Peace Consort.
August 12 (Day 23) – Beautiful Mind; Bonus Point; Stormy Season; Bandinthong; Cotonour; Classy Kim; Sugar Mike; Movietowne Magic; Sweet Tempo; Maid Of Honour.
Four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon is calling it quits for the 100 metres and concentrating on the 200 after a disappointing show at the World Championships in France.
“It is time to go to the 200,” the Trinidadian sprinter said after finishing sixth in his semifinal Monday with a disappointing time of 10.22 at the championships in Saint-Denis. “I am extremely disappointed at the outcome of this race,” Boldon, 30, said on Caribbean Sports Television Network. “I am not used to being in this position — sitting on the sidelines watching others prepare for a final. But champions always move on.” It was especially hard following on months of work to recover from a car crash in Trinidad last year in which Boldon had bruised his hip: “All of the hard work, rehabilitation and training gone to nothing.” Though dejected, he still held hope for the future. “I will be back. I most likely ran my last 100 metres at this level, but there is still the relays to run here. But I will most likely focus on the 200 at next year’s Olympics,” he said in the TV interview.
Boldon won double bronze medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and then bronze and silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He said he was excited by the success of his fellow Caribbean competitors in Monday’s race. Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis won the 100 metres in 10:07 followed a minute later by Trinidad’s Darrel Brown. Brown, 18, seemed reluctant to acknowledge his success. “My goal was to make it to the finals and I did that,” he said. “I am more relieved and glad that it’s over so I can get some rest and prepare for the sprint relays coming up.”
MARAVAL YOUTH ACADEMY will head down to Skinner Park, San Fernando to face another red-hot team Police in a top-of-the-table clash in the All Sport National Super League tonight. Both teams will meet from 7 pm in the second match of a doubleheader, with Maraval holding a three-point lead over Police, who have a match in hand.
The lawmen have been in dominant form during this inaugural season, winning both encounters versus WASA Clean and White and Caroni by 6-1 scorelines. But Maraval would need to maintain their winning form if they are to get some breathing room over the chasing pack, which includes BiWater Stokely Vale, Club Sando and Crab Connection. Sando were due to face Defence Force in the first match of the doubleheader, at Skinner Park, from 3 pm.
Another doubleheader is carded for the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, Tobago, with St Clair Coaching School and Tamana United vying for their first point when they square off from 5 pm, with Stokely Vale opposing Caroni two hours later. TCL Samba Boys will host the inconsistent WASA Clean and White at Gilbert Park, Couva from 4 pm and Crab Connection face Mayaro Spurs at the San Juan Senior Comprehensive ground also at 4 pm. Both teams were expected to meet at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima at 4 pm but the venue will be used for a rescheduled Pro League clash between W Connection and Arima Fire, also from 4 o’clock. And a decision was due to be made last night for Saturday’s aborted match between Defence Force and Crab Connection, which was called off after 73 minutes for reported crowd disturbance at Chaguaramas.
W CONNECTION will look for a valuable three points today when they meet Arima Fire in their rescheduled Round 13 TT Pro League clash.
Kick-off time is 4 pm at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Mala-bar, Arima. Connection will need full points to narrow the gap with runaway leaders CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh, who have 36 points from 14 matches, with Connection 11 points back. Fire have struggled to find their form this season, collecting a meagre ten points from 13 matches with only two victories, including a 2-1 win over cellar-placed Tobago United on Sunday last. Both Connection and Fire Under-20 teams will meet in the day’s earlier match at 2 pm while, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, U-20 leaders Jabloteh oppose the sliding Defence Force from 5 pm.
Sunday’s Under-20 Results –
At Arima: TOBAGO UNITED 1 – Selwyn Duncan 12th vs ARIMA FIRE 1 – Darril Toussaint 65th; At Palo Seco: NORTH EAST STARS 1 – Makasi Peters 87th vs SWIF 0; At Marabella: SAN JUAN JABLOTEH 3 – Ijanna Mark 15th, Jeremiah Headley 83rd, Jerol Forbes 88th vs STARWORLD STRIKERS 0.
Robin John, the Trinidad and Tobago Scrabble Champion will attend the World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The tournament, from October 1 to 25, offers a grand prize of over US $1,000 for the winner, out of a total of US $100,000. John, 56, is sponsored by the Trinidad and Tobago Scrabble Association (TTSA). John is elated to be going to the championships and has a purpose. He is confident of raising the trophy. He has been playing scrabble for over 30 years, and took the National Championship title last December. He will be heading to Malaysia to face over 100 challengers from all around the world. “I am going to win. I will be the first Trinidadian to win this championship,” said John yesterday. He will be accompanied by his wife Pat, a scrabble champion in her own right.
CARDIUS TROTMAN is the king of judo in Trinidad and Tobago for a third time.
He won the senior male open title at the third inter-club judo tournament at the Pleasantville Indoor Sports Complex, San Fernando on Saturday. Trotman, of the Morvant-based Malick Judo Club (MJC), gave an inspired performance, easily mowing down his opponents. The senior women title was won by Kimberly Farah of the Queen’s Park Judo Club. Che Britto of Arima Judo Club won the Juniors “A” title while Abbyommie Thomas (MJC) and Joash Walkins (AJC) shared the Juniors “B” crown. Veteran Clifford Parris of Queen’s Park JC fought his way to the under-66 kilos title. Five club teams participated in this year’s series, resulting in an increase in the number of judokas in action.
Full Results:
Male Junior “A”: 1.Che Britto (Arima Judo Club), 2. Garvin Siewdass (Southern Academy of Martial Arts)
Male Junior “B1”: 1.Joash Walkins (Arima Judo Club), 2.Keston Isaac (Malick Judo Club) and 3.Joshua Chatterpaul, Carmichael Hinds (Southern Academy of Martial Arts).
Male Junior “B2”: 1.Abbyommie Thomas (Malick Judo Club), 2.Randy Alexis (Malick Judo Club), 3.Kaaron Grant (Southern Academy of Martial Arts).
Female Junior “A1”: 1.Della Britto (Queen’s Park Judo Club), 2.Schendelle Eastman (Arima Judo Club) and 3.Julia Jillian (Malick Judo Club).
Male 66kg’s and Under: 1.Clifford Parris (Queen’s Park Judo Club), 2.Kaaron Bourne (Southern Academy of Martial Arts), 3.Johnathan Hamilton (Malick Judo Club), Kendell Isaac (Malick Judo Club).
Male 73kg’s and Under: 1.Trevor Haynes (Queen’s Park Judo Club), 2.Gabriel Baptiste (Malick Judo Club) and 3.Kevin Trotman, Adrian Gabriel (Malick Judo Club).
Female Open: 1.Kimberly Farah (Queen’s Park Judo Club), 2.Ginna Charles (Arima Judo Club), 3.Schenelle Siewdass (Southern Academy of Martial Arts).
Male Open: 1.Cardius Trotman (Malick Judo Club), 2.Joel Bernard (Olympic Style Martial Arts), 3.Rondell Benjamin and Stephen Pantin (Queen’s Park Judo Club).
Las Lomas squeezed out a 2-1 victory as action continued in SIS Central Football Association League last week.
The match was touted as the “Game of the Week” at Woodford Lodge, Chaguanas last Thursday. Las Lomas United got their goals from Leo Wiley in the 34th and Anthony Jacob in the 79th minute while Leeds got a consolation in the 89th minute through Kern Thomas. Las Lomas also registered another win on Saturday defeating Cap-off Youths 2-0. Anthony Jacob in the 43rd and Leo Wiley in the 75th minute were the Youths’ tormentors. Edinburgh 500 also registered a thrilling 3-2 win over a fighting Cap-Off Youths team last Wednesday. Filmore George opened for 500 in the 47th minute, but the Youths responded immediately as Junior Baker notched the equaliser one minute later. Kerwyn Thomas increased 500’s lead in the 57th minute, but Ryan Patterson drew the Youths level in the 76th minute. Filmore George sealed the win for 500 in the 80th minute to diminish any hopes the Youths had getting back in the match again..
Central Falcons and Couva Players United played to a 1-1 draw on Friday. Louis Johnson gave Falcons the lead in the 43rd minute, and Jonathan Marcel denied Falcons the win, scoring in the 75th minute. Caroni FC defeated Perseverance Sports 2-0 on Sunday to register their second win of the tournament. Sidney Shade in the first and 49th minutes registered Caroni’s goals. In the “ Game of the Week” a door prize of a football, donated by Ramsingh’s Sports World, was won by Frank Mitchell. This week’s “Game of the Week” between Las Lomas United and Couva Players at the Woodford Lodge Grounds was staged yesterday. Another door prize of a football was up for grabs, donated by Addy’s Catering Service of Couva.
GIVEN 138 words to spell in an examination, the only word a would-be policeman could spell in a dictation exercise was “Robbery.”
“He got that word perfect,” was how Dennis Graham, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (South), described the high failure rate of the applicants who wrote the examination last Saturday for entry in the Special Reserve Police (SRP). A total of close to 13,000 sat the examination throughout the country. One applicant was found in possession of a fraudulent passport. According to Graham, words such as “penalties,” “chaos” and “society” gave applicants lots of trouble. He said some of the applicants gave several excuses for their performances. Some of them included having to stand in the sun for their names to be called into the exam room, or that they were unable to properly hear the PA system which was used in all nine police Divisions for the exam. However, another senior officer said the excuses were poor, and that it was made even worse since all the would-be SRP entrants were allowed ten mistakes. “It was a very simple passage. It is a sad thing,” he said. Head of the North Eastern Division, acting Sr Supt Waldron Bishop said: “They just can’t spell, and the passage was not read too fast.” Bishop said the passage dealt with the functions of the Government, and some of the biggest words were “fundamental” and “confusion”, with the smallest words being “and”, “one” and “for.”
Graham said of the near 4,000 applicants who wrote the exams in the Southern Division, only 615 passed, while in the South Western Division, 343 passed with 529 failing. Poor results were also recorded in the other seven Divisions. The Port-of-Spain, Western, North Eastern and Northern Divisions recorded 50 percent failures, while the Eastern Division said they had 55 percent failures and the Central Division reported several mistakes, but they were tallying the results up to late evening. The situation was similar in Tobago, according to Supt Benjamin Watson. He said the Tobago Division had a 45.1 percent pass rate, with 54.9 percent of the applicants failing. “Normally Tobagonians do well. The females outshone the males. The males were not good and need to buck up on themselves,” Watson said. Another senior officer in the North Eastern Division said there were instances where the applicants could not spell a word, and instead they drew objects. In the Port-of-Spain Division there were reports of applicants writing “two lines” and giving up because they could not cope.
One of the persons who passed the dictation exam in the Port-of-Spain Division is an 85-year-old retired police officer. “He passed with flying colours,” a police source said. Asked about the age of this individual, the source said the application was open to everyone. There were other concerns expressed with some of the applicants being accused of duplicating forms in different divisions. The 12,866 who wrote the dictation exam was reduced from the 17,000 odd who responded to newspaper advertisements for last Saturday’s exams. The others just did not turn up, senior officers said. Another exam is to be held and 1,000 SRPs will be chosen. Meantime all who wrote last Saturday’s dictation examination, are asked to return today at 8 am to the venues where they sat the exam. The nine venues are Barataria Junior Secondary School, Arima Senior Comprehensive, Woodbrook Government Secondary, Chaguanas Senior Comprehensive, Bishop’s High School (Tobago), Pleasantville Junior Secondary, Diego Martin Junior Secondary, Siparia Junior Secondary and the North Eastern College.
