The Republic Cup drew to a close with winners emerging in the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 Divisions recently.

A total of 36 teams battled for top places. Tobago’s Stokely Vale FC took the Under-13 division title defeating Trendsetter Hawks 2-1. The Hawks led at the half-time, but Vale scored two goals late in the sencond half to take the top spot. In the Under-15 Division, The Joe Public Junior team, John Doe Academy  took top honours, defeating Gasparillo Youths “A” by 3-0. Shastri Spencer was Gasparillo’s destroyer with two goals, and Sheldon Augustine was the final marksman for John Doe. In the Under-17 Division, Foreign Base defeated Future and Beyond 3-2 to take the title while Trincity Nationals were named Girls Under-17 Champs.

A MEMBER of the Betting Levy Board has quit.

The member, Kern Govia,  handed in a letter of resignation yesterday informing of  his decision to quit the BLB with immediate effect. Govia who served as a member of the BLB since 1998 is stepping aside because of what he described as “personal and business” commitments. According to the horse racing “grapevine,” Govia is to be replaced by Bookmakers Association vice-president Peter George. Only last month, Govia was re-appointed to the BLB along with chairman Roop Chan Chadeesingh, Francis Joseph, Wilma Primus, Allen Trestrail, Ronald Kowlessar, Tyrone Kowlessaar, Dr Ryan Shim, Peter Wharton and Dr Roger d’Abadie to serve another term. Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj was the only newcomer named to the BLB.

Meanwhile, on a damp Santa Rosa Park, Arima, track on Monday morning Dutchess Trembley put down a stunning 600 metres gallop which was completed in 35.2 seconds. Also showing good form on the gallops was Smooth Operator, who stepped 400 metres in 27.4 seconds. The “Boboy” Maharaj owned and trained two-year-old All Set For Battle looked just that yesterday, completing a 400 metres gallop in the good time of 25.3 seconds, while Lady Rossie went over 600 metres in 35.4 seconds. Another Maharaj inmate, Loud Music, had a good pipe opener over 1000 metres in 1:04.7 seconds. Top Of The Class continues to show his intention to emulate stablemate Carnival Messiah by winning the local triple crown, when he cruised over 800 metres in 49.8 seconds. And Hollywood Star showed good speed in a 1000 metres run done in 1:09.3 seconds, as the horses continue to prepare for Saturday’s 10-race programme.

Here are yesterday’s gallops: 400 METRES – ALL SET FOR BATTLE –  25.3; CHEERLEADER – 28.6; FROMNOWUNTIL – 29.0.
600 METRES – BAGGY GREEN – 44.8; LADY ROSSIE – 35.4; RETURN TO GLORY – 44.9; SWEET LAURA LEE – 39.3; TRICKY GUY – 43.1; UNDERDINFLUENCE – 44.4.
800 METRES – BILLY BUTTON – 59.9;  EL GUERROUJ – 51.8; PATTI’S NO ANGEL – 57.1; RUBY SCORES – 59.7; TOP OF THE CLASS – 49.8.
1000 METRES – HOLLYWOOD STAR – 1:09.3;  ICE FOLLIES – 1:14.9;  LOUD MUSIC – 1:04.7.
Monday’s gallops: 400 METRES – BAGGY GREEN – 29.8; HYARIMA – 29.9;  ICE FOLLIES – 29.9; JOINT VENTURE – 29.9; LAURA’S BOY – 29.9; SALSA MOVES – 29.5; SMOOTH OPERATOR – 27.4; TWIST ‘N’ TURN – 29.9.
600 METRES –  ALL SET FOR BATTLE – 44.8; DUCHESS ALICIA – 44.7; DUTCHESS TREMBLEY –  35.3; GOLDEN SHUFLEUR – 39.4;  JAVA TAKEOVER – 44.8.
800 METRES – COLD RISK – 52.8; MOVIETOWNE MAGIC – 54.3;  REDOUBLED – 53.9.
1000 METRES – EL GUERROUJ – 1:05.0; SWEET TEMPO – 1:03.8; TOP OF THE CLASS – 1:12.3.
1200 METRES – ACTUAL LADY – 1:18.5; CARNIVAL MESSIAH –  1:16.3;  LIFE IN RUSSIA – 1:29.9.

Venture Credit Union together with Athletics Central will stage their fourth annual 6K road race and fun walk on Sunday, September 14 in Couva.

Details of the event were revealed by vice-president of Venture Credit Union, Desmond Baxter at a press conference at Venture Building, Southern Main Road, Couva yesterday. ”Venture as a community co-operative body has over the years demonstrated its interest in the sporting, cultural and financial development of the community and in collaboration with Athletics Central Sports club, we are again organising this race,” Baxter said. “While the walk will be held during the Republic Day celebration period and could be considered as part of the celebration, it was decided that because of the general outcry against crime, we are using the theme this year as ‘Run against crime, walk for peace’,” he said. The winner of the race will get $600, while the runner-up takes away $400. There will also be age-group prizes as well as hampers in the Fun Walk category.

Last year the race attracted over 500 participants and it is the hope of Baxter and his organising committee that more will participate this year. “We are hoping to attract a lot more people to the event this year from the communities around Couva.We want to make this a real success, so we need to get the people out of their homes and on the course,” Baxter said. The Race/Walk begins at 7 am in front of the Venture Building and the course will take participants east to Campden Junction, then along Campden Road to Rivulet Road. From that point the runners will proceed west to BC Roundabout and then up the Southern Main Road and back to the Venture Building. The organising committee is seeking sponsors to bring in regional competitors to make the event more interesting. Registration fee is $20 and refreshments will be provided for all participants in the race. The organising committee, headed by Baxter, includes Mona Beharrylal, Allan Baboolal, Adrian McFarlane, Geraldine Lewis, Mathew Guelmo, Vanessa Adams Pascall and David Bigford.

The sport of kickboxing in Trinidad and Tobago has received a major boost with the success of Nick and Richard Boodram at the World Kickboxing Network (WKN) Caribbean Championships in Curacao last Saturday.

The Princes Town brothers struck gold for Trinidad and Tobago at the championships held at the Don Bosco Hall, in front of a large cheering crowd. The elder of the two, 18-year-old Nick Boodram came up against Curacao’s national champion Daniel Schoop in the superfeatherweight full contact finals and battled bravely to earn a draw. For his efforts he got the gold medal. In the preliminaries he got past Leroy Marcos of Bonaire easily — outpointing him for a unanimous decision. His younger brother Richard came up against Johan Croes of Aruba in the low-kick final. Richard entered the final as the underdog to the Aruban but took the fight to his opponent with some fantastic combinations of punches and kicks. When the bout was over it was declared a draw to the thunderous applause from the appreciative crowd. Richard was voted “Fighter of the Night” by the officials of the tournament. ”At the moment I am just very happy with the victory and the fact that I can bring back a gold medal for my country. I worked hard going into the tournament and came through in the end, which is very satisfying,” said Richard yesterday.

WKN representative for Trinidad and Tobago Martin McClashie said he was elated for the youngsters and was happy that this country is finally putting out quality competitors in kickboxing. “The success of these guys makes me very pleased and now we can say that Trinidad and Tobago is putting out quality fighters in kickboxing.” The Boodrams who live at Borde Narve Village, Princes Town are now the toast of the sleepy village with their regional success. They are bent on going on to win international titles and as such have set up a gym at their home to continue their development under the watchful eyes of their father.  They expressed thanks to Member of Parliament for their area Nizam Baksh and Acme Agricultural Supplies for assisting them with their trip to Curacao.

KINGSTOWN: In hopes of holding some of the 2007 World Cup matches in St Vincent, the government was considering upgrading the country’s main stadium to meet international tournament standards, officials said.

While the Arnos Vale Playing Field has potential, it needs more seating, better access paths and a new, flatter outfield, officials said on Monday. “The road ahead is going to be trying,” but the government’s support is “very encouraging,” said Lennox John, president of the Windward Islands Cricket Board. Officials were assessing how much improvements would cost, including new grandstands to boost the stadium’s 10,000 seating capacity and possibly an electronic scoreboard and video board. “There is still plenty of work to be carried out” to meet standards set by the International Cricket Council, said Don Lockerbie, of the West Indies World Cup Organising Committee,  during a visit to the country on Friday. Lockerbie, who also met with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and local cricket officials, has visited eight other Caribbean countries contending to host World Cup matches. The 2007 World Cup will be the first ever in the Caribbean, with 16 teams expected to compete. The venues will be announced in April.

TOP squash player Dr Paul Jerome De Verteuil will, once again, lead the Trinidad and Tobago Senior National team at the Caribbean Squash Championships in Barbados.

De Verteuil was ranked fifth in the Caribbean at the end of the 2001 edition and is joined in the bi-annual tournament by top juniors Joanna Scoon and Tessa Martin. Both are fresh from the Caribbean Junior Championships with Martin at 14 years being the youngest ever Women’s Senior team member. The TT team leaves today for Barbados expecting an improvement in the men’s team third placed finish in the last championships. Competition begins tomorrow and continues to August 30 when the finals will be staged.

The full compliment is:
Men: Paul De Verteuil, Colin Ramasra, Ryan Abraham, Marc Pontiflex, Peter Pirtheesingh and John Marc De Montrichard.

Women: Rhea Khan, Ingrid Lloyd, Gen Shim, Nicole Currie, Joanna Scoon and Tessa Martin.

John Holley and Michelle Cornilliac will compete in the Veteran’s Division (Over-40) and Lewis Smith is the only competing Master (Over-50) on the team.

Coaches are Henry Laughlin and Roger Salandy; while Nicholas Mc Grath is the team’s manager.

ST JOHN’S: Remedial work on the bowling action of West Indies fast bowler Jermaine Lawson will continue after the submission of a report by a biomechanics expert from Britain.

Last month, the WICB flew biomechanics specialist, Dr Paul Hurrion, from Britain to conduct an assessment of the 21-year-old Lawson, who has been undergoing remedial work on his action after match officials formally reported him during  the Fourth and final Cable and Wireless Test between West Indies and Australia at the Antigua Recreation Ground last May. “Dr Hurrion concluded that though there has been substantial improvement to Jermaine’s action between the time he was reported and the assessment, there is still some work to be completed to satisfy Law 24 of the sport,” remarked Dr Michael Seepersaud, the WICB’s Chief Cricket Development Officer.

TRINIDAD and Tobago had an outstanding day yesterday at the 43rd Caribbean Table Tennis Championships advancing to three semi-finals in the team competition.

“It was a fantastic performance. Everyone is responding very well to the meetings we have been having,” said Stanley Hunte yesterday in a telephone interview from the University of Science and Technology in Kingston, Jamaica. Hunte, president of the Table Tennis Association is a delegate at the championships. The other officials are Colin Cudjoe (manager) and Stephen Wade (coach). Led by France-based duo of Dexter St Louis and Rae-Ann Chung, TT yesterday swept into the medal round semi-finals of the men’s doubles, the women’s doubles and mixed doubles competitions. St Louis teamed up with Anthony Brown to whip the second pair from the Dominican Republic 12-10, 5-11, 11-4, 11-4. They then took care of home team Jamaica comprising Darren Blake, ranked No 13 in England and Nigel Webb 14-12, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4.

The TT men will now come up against Puerto Rico for a place in the gold medal clash against the winners of the Dominican Republic and Barbados clash. The women’s doubles team of Chung and Shelly-Ann Parris will come up against Barbados’ Sabrina Worrell and Crystal Harvey in the semi-finals. The winners will play either the Dominican Republic or Venezuela who meet for the right to a shot at the gold medal. And in the mixed doubles St Louis, who plays professionally for Bordeaux in France combined with his step-daughter Chung to slam Guyana 3-0 late yesterday for a place in the semi-finals. Earlier they bested the Venezuelan second pair of Marco Novas and Yamileth Arasme 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9. The top rated duo also crushed Guyana’s Matthew Khan and Jody-Ann Blake 3-0 at 11-9, 11-8, 11-6. The Guyanese had been extended to five sets in their match against the second pair from the Dominican Republic before encountering the TT players.

All three semi-finals will be contested today at the University of Technology and Science. Hunte yesterday commeded the TT pair of Reeza Burke and Curtis Humphries for reaching the last eighth in the men’s doubles beating Dominica’s pair at 3, 6 and 8; and then slamming  Jamaicans Hector Bennet, the national champion and Chris Marsh 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8. But they were stopped by top Barbadian tandem of Robert Roberts and defending Caribbean singles champion Kevin Farley 10-12, 9-11, 10-12. Also flying the TT flag proudly were Aleena Edwards and Nicole Motilal in the women’s doubles with a splended victory against Jamaica’s pair of  Burton and Palmer 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9. They however went under to Venezuela at 3, 6 and 4. In the mixed doubles Humphries and Motilal also rallied well against the Jamaican pair but lost to the Dominican Republic’s Wu Xue and Lin Ju at 2, 6 and 6. Burke and Aleena Edwards also made their presence felt with a win against Jamaica at 8, 9 and 9. On Monday the TT women took the bronze, third of seven countries in the doubles; while the men placed fifth of 10 competing nations.