DESTINY WARRIORS staged a remarkable come-from-behind 5-4 victory over AME Ballplayers in the second round of the Full Gospel Churches’ Football League last Saturday. Ballplayers held a comfortable 4-0 lead with Fabien Lendore hitting a double while Malcolm Peters and Christo-pher Small added one apiece. But the Warriors got a renewed sense of purpose in the final five minutes, scoring three times to seal full points. Anton Taylor netted twice for the victors while Kern Cupidore, Dave John and Stevenson Lewis scored the others. Third round action will be contested today from 1.15 pm with six matches scheduled.
OTHER RESULTS
CHRISTIAN PRINTERS AMEN (4) — Anton Spring 2, Kareem Jack, Jesse Davis vs DOXA (0).
GENESIS (6) — Keith Butler 2, Llewelyn Dove, Denzil Hislop, Abraham Simmons, Brandon Cuffy vs SHEKINAH WORSHIP CENTRE (1) — Matthew Jagessar.
RHEMA (3) — J Pascall 3 vs BETHEL (2) — Kendall Cambridge, Samuel Smith.
GLOBAL ENCOUNTER MINISTRY (3) — Nigel Dennis 2, Andre Leid vs WOODBROOK AIC (1) — Sean O’Brien.
HEBRON (4) – Andre Mills 2, Andrew Taylor 2 vs DELIVERANCE MINISTRY LYONS (1) – Richard Regaud.
Trinidad and Tobago’s young golfers will show off their wares on the greens today when the Smalta Tobago Junior Open Golf Tournament tees off. Following yesterday’s practice round at the Plantations Golf and Beach Resort in Lowlands, the golfers will return to the greens at 9 am while the competition concludes tomorrow at the Mt Irvine Golf Course. The boys and girls 16-18 will play over 18 holes while the Under-12 and 13-15 players will contest nine holes.
SONG OF FREEDOM looks right in tune for the Handicap one and Lower feature on the Arima Race Club Day 22 card at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, today. Grant Lourenco’s charge failed to show the same early spark in his last start but, has been showing much fire in his preparatory work and could bounce back to winning ways in the 1,100 metres turf event. The son of Boston Harbour has acquitted himself well against the top bracket prior to that poor showing last time out, winning twice and finishing runner-up in four starts. He seemed to have gone off the boil last time and did not show the same blinding speed he is noted for. But the search for the reason behind the lacklustre performance has been detected to be the stabling of a mare next to him. With the problem rectified, the dark bay again became focused, and that could not have been more evident in his 800 metres spin on Sunday recorded in 47.77 seconds.
He is asked to spot his eight rivals lumps of weight in today’s grass event but, a reproduction of his previous level of form could see him regaining the winning thread in today’s dash.
Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj has a formidable array of young talent and the astute trainer, denied the distinction of winning the first juvenile race this season, can exact revenge in the opening event today’s programme. Maharaj, who sent out six of the seven runners in the first outing for the “babes” was upstaged by Harold Chadee’s lone runner. Today’s opening event on the ten-race card looks like a replica, with Maharaj having seven against Chadee’s Shear Magic. The beating forced Maharaj to raise the level a notch with his juvenile, a move which seems to have his team flying at present, and the astute trainer can make a clean sweep of the $23,000 prize at stake in the opener. Of notable absence in the trainers column is champion conditioner John O’Brien. But although O’Brien is without a representative on the programme it did not hinder the supporting races, and Gold Conveyor looks a fine choice for the Starter Allowance event. The Cyril ‘‘Patch’’ Arneaud inmate is showing all the hallmarks of a group class individual and should not be missed in 1200 metres supporting race.
KINGSTON: Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Girls netballers have been relegated to 10th ranked in world netball. It happened at the National Sports Centre here yesterday, when they crashed to a shocking 52-50 defeat by the United States at the 2003 Cable & Wireless 11th World Netball Champion-ships. This means, the Calypso Girls have plunged two places, having entered the tournament as the 8th ranked team and will now have to play with the minnows to qualify to play among the top 12 in the next championships. Yesterday the USA, beaten 48-42 by the Calypso Girls in an earlier meeting, played with purpose, unlike the Trinidadians who seemed to be just going through the motions, and the American team laced with several Caribbean-born players led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Calypso Girls regained the initiative in the second period however, as happened in earlier games, to outscore the opposition 17-13 to lead at the half 30-29.
Diehard Trinis at the Centre shouted their support but once again the Calypso Girls disappointed, particularly in the centre court, and our worst fears came back to haunt us. Goal-shoot Janelle Barker the perennial bright spark gave the Trinidadians a four-goal lead early in the third quarter, but the USA girls made use of several turnovers to draw level at the end of the period 39-39. Barker was switched to goal-attack and Simone Morgan was handed the goal-shoot bib, and this worked and there was promise of a happy ending but it proved to be only a promise, as with the scores knotted up with just over three minutes to play, goal-defence Denesha Moses threw a long cross-court pass which was intercepted and the USA scored to move ahead and kept the lead to the end. Morgan finished with 30 goals from 33 attempts and Barker had 20 from 26, while ex-Jamaican national Georgina Hibbert scored 46 goals of 54 attempts.
Other scores: HONG KONG (39) vs CAYMANS ISLANDS (36); CANADA (43) vs BERMUDA (33); ANTIGUA/BARBUDA (65) vs SRI LANKA (60); SCOTLAND (39) vs ST LUCIA (35); ST. VINCENT/GRENADINES (51) vs WALES (30); COOK ISLAND (49) vs NUIE (39); NORTHERN IRELAND (49) vs GRENADA (38).
Quarter finals: AUSTRALIA (62) BARBADOS (35); ENGLAND (44) vs SOUTH AFRICA (41)
Today’s semi-finals: Australia vs England; Jamaica vs New Zealand.
ANGOSTURA have launched their “Harmony Through Sports” series, a camp for children of Morvant/Laventille bet-ween age seven and 12. Camp director Michael Dinchong, along with a team of professionals will teach the youngsters social skills, the rudiments of netball, football, hockey and cricket at the Laventille Sports Complex. The youngsters will also be taken through the correct techniques and rules of each sport. A total of 82 children have been registered for the camp which earned the commendation of Community and Gender Affairs Minister Joan Yuille-Williams. She said it was good to see Angostura, a corporate company, doing their part for the upliftment of their community.
Top seeded players, Japan’s Sho Sasaki (No 1) and German Conrad Huickstadt (No 2) among the male and Finland’s Anu Weckstrom (No1) and Canada’s Charmaine Reid (No2) among the female were knocked out the keenly-contested semi-finals of the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) International championships at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo yesterday. It was the biggest turn around of fortunes at the most exciting and high calibre badminton competition ever staged in the country. The premier annual Caribbean tournament attracted world-ranked players from 20 countries. The world-ranked number 29 Sasaki was highly favoured to win his second major title in the Caribbean after he won the Cuba Giraldilla International on May 1 and followed up with the gold medal at the Noumea New Caledonia International twenty-two days later. And his lesser-ranked compatriot Tooru Matsumoto (No 63), who defeated Trinidad and Tobago’s three-time champion Anil Seepaul earlier in this tournament, created the first major upset by whipping southpaw Sasaki 15-7, 5-15 and 15-8.
Matsumoto will clash with another Japanese warrior in Yuichi Ikeda (No 70) who outlasted Germany’s Huickstadt (No 46) in another thrilling three-setter at 15-5, 8-15, 15-12. It was similar story and upsets among the top female racquet wielders. Japanese Miyo Akao (world ranked No 105), who defeated TT’s runner-up Zeudi Mack (11-0, 11-8), pulled up the biggest shock when she smashed out top seeded player Weckstrom (No 22) by a 11-8, 11-6 margin. Canada’s Jody Patrick (No 89) made light work of her compatriot Charmaine Reid (No 27) and advanced to today’s final with an 11-9, 11-1 victory. The International finals will start at 2 pm at the same venue while the regional top juniors will face off from 10 am.
Cantius Thomas emerged winner of the recent Trincity Residents Association Limited Fun Run. He squeezed Errol “Baldhead” Williams into second place and Darren Grenade in third in the Open Non-Resident category. In the Women’s Division Solange Griffith fought off Susan Garcia to take the top spot while Clarence Tobias was first among the male residents followed by Andre Cabera in second and Kendall Nedd in third. Jennelle Nedd was first in the Women Resident Division beating Angela Reece and Esther Murray into second and third place respectively. In the 13-18 age group Brent Bristol and Nadine Joseph took the top spots in the male and female division respectively. Rion Granger and Akeem Simon came in after Bristol while Nicole Nedd and Donna Wickham followed Joseph. In the Under-13 5K, Tevin Boland captured first place among the males with Scott Hosein and Kenaird Saunders in tow. Ria Granger left Phylecia Armstrong and Jonnelle Warrick trailing in her wake.
The Trincity Residents Association Limited have thanked all sponsors and supporters of this successful community venture. Jennifer Brown, chairperson of the group named main sponsors Tru Valu Supermarket (Trincity) and Home Construction Limited; along with Newsday; Reed Monza Trinidad Limited; Unit Trust Corporation; Nestle; LB’s Supermarket; Republic Bank (Trincity Mall); Illuminat, Trincity Masters; Northern Division/Arouca Police Station; Ojesta Clyne, Manager Tru Valu (Trincity); Principal of Dinsley Trincity Government Carol Mills; and former secretary of the National Amateur Athletics Association, Clyde Forde.
ST JOHN’S: A group of Antiguans and several sports stars are lobbying for the country’s Under-23 team to be allowed to play in upcoming Olympic qualifying games despite a suspension ordered by FIFA. Antiguan football enthusiast Leonard Tomlinson announced the effort yesterday, saying he had received support from West Indian cricket greats Sir Viv Richards and Curtly Ambrose, among others. In a letter sent earlier this week, Tomlinson wrote to International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge requesting help in urging FIFA to reinstate Antigua and Barbuda’s team. The letter also was signed by Antiguan clubs, coaches, referees and legislators. Football’s governing body ordered the suspension in May amid corruption allegations, two months after the Antigua Football Association board was dissolved in a dispute over missing funds.
A committee appointed to investigate last month accused two former executives of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of Eastern Caribbean dollars (tens of thousands of US dollars). The two former administrators have denied wrongdoing. Olympic qualifying matches for the Caribbean region are due to start in various countries next month. But plans for a zone playoff against St Lucia were cancelled when the FIFA suspension was imposed. In the drive to have the suspension lifted, Tomlinson said he also received the support of former British world boxing champion Maurice Hope, who was born in Antigua, and Cuba’s 1992 javelin gold medalist Maritza Marten Garcia, who coaches in Antigua. FIFA are sending a delegation next month to assess the situation as they consider lifting the suspension.
RELATIVES of 55-year-old grandmother of six , Moonia Geesiawan, who went missing after leaving her workplace on Tuesday, located her body after seeing flocks of corbeaux (vultures) gathered at a specific area in the forests off Agostini Village, Rio Claro, yesterday morning. Police investigating the gruesome murder of Geesiawan told Newsday they believe her killer/s threw the carcass of a dead dog near her body to lead persons into thinking that the stench of rotting flesh came from the dead animal thus preventing Geesiawan’s body from being discovered. Police believe the woman was abducted, raped, strangled and her body partially burnt. Geesiawan’s body was discovered 24 hours after nursing assistant Sharda Deane, 41, of Cedar Hill Estate Road, Princes Town, was fatally stabbed by a close male relative at their home following an argument she had with the relative over his alcohol problem. Southern Division Homicide detectives were up to late yesterday questioning a 54-year-old customs clerk of Princes Town in connection with Deane’s murder. Four men, all of Agostini Village, Rio Claro, were also being questioned in the connection with Geesiawan’s murder.
In the Deane killing, police sources said around 6.30 pm on Thursday, the suspect was cutting onions in the kitchen when Deane approached him and started arguing about his drinking habit. The argument turned deadly when, police said, the man plunged a knife into the left side of the woman’s chest. Deane was rushed to the Princes Town Hospital by relatives, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Up to late yesterday, police were making arrangements to have an autopsy carried out on Deane’s body at the Forensic Sciences Centre, Federation Park, St James. Police sources told Newsday the suspect, a father of four, was held shortly after the murder. Police sources told Newsday, once an autopsy was carried out on Deane’s body, the report and case file would be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Geoffrey Henderson, who would then decide on what (if any) charges would be laid against the suspect. In the other murder, around 10 am yesterday, Geesiawan’s badly decomposed body was discovered by her 28-year-old son, Chris, and his friend Anthony Joseph, 32, in a forested area about 300 feet off the main road at Agostini Village, Rio Claro.
Struggling to hold back tears, Chris Geesiawan was able to identify his mother’s body by a gold capped tooth at the front of her mouth. The woman’s body was discovered lying on its back under a pile of burnt bamboo with a rope tied around the neck. District Medical Officer Dr Kamaluddin Amin viewed the body and ordered it removed to the Forensic Sciences Centre where an autopsy will be done on Monday. Joseph told Newsday that his friend’s mother worked with an URP gang in Rio Claro and had finished work around midday on Tuesday. She decided to go to Agostini Village to find a welder to burglar-proof the windows of her home. Joseph said he learnt that Geesiawan had gone to a welder who had referred her to other people who would do the job.That was the last time she was seen alive. A large crowd of villagers gathered at the side of the main road while police and the DMO examined the corpse. Southern Division Homicide Bureau detectives are continuing investigations into both murders.
The ball appears to be in the Trinidad and Tobago court on whether the solidarity of Caricom on the issue of the International Criminal Court is to be broken or not. Guyana President Jagdeo Bharrat in a letter sent to Caricom Chairman Lester Bird yesterday said that Guyana could not afford to lose US military aid. But Bharrat stated that Guyana was awaiting an initiative from Prime Minister Patrick Manning before deciding whether it should sign a bilateral treaty with the United States agreeing not to hand over US citizens to the jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning declined comment, referring Newsday to Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift. However Gift, stressing that he “wanted to get the correct story”, stated that he had not been informed of any new developments.
