BRILLIANT performances by national under-17 champions Vikie Singh and Justin Siu and his national runner-up Earnesto Dean saw Trinidad and Tobago collect three bronze medals at the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) Junior Championships which is contested at the Jean Pierre Complex, Mucurapo.
The talented Cri-Stars Badminton club threesome Singh, Siu and Dean were beaten in the semi-final round of the U-17 singles competition, which is played simultaneously with the CAREBACO International Championships. They still have the opportunity of playing for the gold medal in the respective age-group finals tomorrow. They will be involved in the semi-finals battle today at the same venue, when action serves off from 10 am. Pint-sized Singh disposed of Barbadian Geordine Henry 13-12, 5-11 and 11-5 and stopped compatriot Kerry Ann Quan Chee 11-1 and 11-2 in the quarter-finals. She will do battle with Mexican Naty DeLaRanger in the other semi-final tie. Jamaican Shaunette Davis edged out TT’s Nekeisha Blake (11-8, 1-11, 11-9) and Surinamese Jill Sjauw Mook 6-11, 11-9 and 13-11 in two close-fought encounters. Davis will clash with Mexican Rosina Nunes who whipped TT’s Keisha Hercules (11-4, 11-0) and Jamaica’s champion Tracy Morgan 11-7, 2-11 and 11-4. Siu and Dean had contrasting rides to the “semis.” Champion Siu made it in convincing fashion by smashing out Nicholas Robinson (15-1, 15-2) and Barbados’ Greg Padmore (15-7, 15-2) but his U-17 doubles partner Dean was extended to three-setters before winning against Barbados’ Tshepang Matlepang (7-15, 15-3, 15-6) and Jamaican Christopher Beecher (15-17, 15-4, 15-10). In the semi-finals, Siu will do battle with Mexico’s Alexandro Reyes.
FOXBORO: Marvin Gonzalez’s goal 14 minutes from time gave El Salvador a 1-0 victory over Martinique in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Wednesday, securing a quarter-final tie against Costa Rica. Earlier, Costa Rica clinched their place in the last eight with a 3-0 victory over Cuba.
El Salvador and Martinique both went into their Group C match needing a win to progress. Martinique fielded an amateur side with the exception of goalkeeper Eddy Heurlie, a reserve with relegated French Ligue 1 team Troyes. Jose Gordon almost gave Martinique a 36th-minute lead but his shot was well saved by goalkeeper Juan Gomez. At the other end, Heurlie made several stops before Gonzalez finally struck. Heurlie saved substitute William Alegria’s point-blank shot but the ball fell kindly for Gonzalez to tap in from 10 metres. Costa Rica, who also needed a win to stay in the competition, powered through thanks to their 3-0 victory over Cuba in Group D.
A brilliant strike from Walter Centeno in first-half stoppage time gave Costa Rica the lead before substitutes Steven Bryce and Erick Scott put the game beyond Cuba, who now meet the US, the defending champions, in the last eight. Despite dominating from the start, the Costa Ricans took a long time to make their superiority tell. Winston Parks struck the post in the third minute while Centeno headed a cross from Rolando Fonseca against the bar 12 minutes later. Cuba’s best chance came on 33 minutes when Jeniel Marquez unleashed a shot from 22 metres that goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzalez did well to fist away. Costa Rica eventually broke through when Carlos Castro’s corner was volleyed in by Centeno from 18 metres. Bryce, who replaced Wilmer Lopez in the 72nd minute, doubled the lead almost immediately by slamming in a shot from 14 metres. Five minutes later, Costa Rica made it 3-0 when Scott pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area.
QPCC.COM overcame a brilliant fightback from QPCC Ball Blasters to cop the C Division title in this year’s Trinidad and Tobago Squash Association National League.
The “Dot Com” squeaked home 3-2 in Wednesday’s final at the Queen’s Park Oval courts. Adam Alkins clinched the victory for QPCC.com defeating Devin Santos 9-5, 9-1, 9-3 in the deciding fifth match. QPCC Top Guns, defeated their Queens Park partners QPCC Hard Core 4-1 to clinch third place in the play-off. Top Guns won the game in the first four games, but Jeff Sanguinette of Hard Core earned a consolation for his team defeating Mike Farah 9-10, 5-9, 9-3, 10-9, 5-9.
The A and B Division finals will take place tomorrow. Petrotrin Stars will face QPCC Old Navy in the A Division final, while QPCC Mix & Match will meet Forest Reserve Drillers in the B Division. The third and fourth place play-off in both the B and C Division will precede the finals with action beginning at 1.30 pm. Following the finals, the Laughlin & De Gannes prize distribution takes place at Rafters Restaurant from 5.30 pm.
UNRATED Mark Richards of Trinidad and Tobago provided the upset of the third round of competition in the Sagicor Open Chess Championships when he emerged victorious over fellow countryman and defending champion Allan Munro.
On board one Barbados’ top seed Askari Elson defeated Martyn Decastillo also of Barbados after a fiercely competitive turn from both players at the board, the Bajan team kept the flag flying when Murali Areti beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Margaret Thairu. Trinidad’s Imran Hosein and Jamaica’s Junior champion Darren Wisdom battled to the only draw of the round.
The competition which was played in its entirety at the National Union of Public Workers headquarters, St Michael’s Barbados, also saw former winners Munro (2002) and Sean Perryman (1999) fall to Jamaica’s Darren Wisdom and Elson in the fourth round. The Trinidad and Tobago team was saved by the efforts of Christopher Raphael, Justin Salloum, Keron Cabralis, Alpacino Smith, Aschile Mendes and Pritvi Ramkrishnan who all won their fourth games.
ANISA MOHAMMED, 14, of Maraj Hill, Upper Cumuto, Sangre Grande, who attends the Matura High School, as a Form 4 student, is now a member of the West Indies women’s team. She will be off to Holland for a qualifying series prior to the World Tournament later this year. She was drafted into the team when Clea Hoyte of St Vincent was injured and pronounced unfit for the tour.
Mohammed impressed at the West Indies Women Cricket Tournament at which Trinidad and Tobago won at both the knockout and league titles in Grenada. An off-break bowler who was attracted to cricket together with her twin sister Alisa, whom she felt “is equally as good as she, and is destined to make the national team sometime in the future.” Mohammed was asked to speak at the formal launch of the 2003-2004 PowerGen Coaching Programme at the Sir Frank Worrel Cricket Development Centre, Balmain, Couva, yesterday morning, when she paid tribute to PowerGen for their initiative in organising the Coaching Scheme for Youths throughout the country.
Mohammed promised when she and sister Alisa are in the national team together, “we will perform as well as the Waugh brothers of Australia.” When they were growing up they were so attracted to cricket that “we wished that we could have been playing at a higher level,” she said. By a stroke of luck they heard of the PowerGen Coaching Scheme and they were taken by their father to the North Eastern College for exposure and through the efforts of coach David Moffet “we were well trained in all the skills of the game. “It was there that I learnt the art of off-spin bowling for which I have been picked on the West Indies team,” Anisa said.
“I do not want to forget my parents who have always stood with us. I wish to thank them with all the love in my heart for the tremendous financial assistance, and commitment to ensure our success in the game which at the beginning seemed just a sport but which has now opened up new opportunities and new horizons in our very young lives,” Anisa said. She is now involved in the PowerGen Coaching Scheme for the past 18 months, “ and suddenly I have been given celebrity status for my success so far. “This programme has not only given me physical skills which may help me to reach great heights, but it has offered me the opportunity to develop the proper attitudes and values as a teenager in this hostile world,” she added. Anisa said, “As a young woman coming out of the PowerGen Youth Coaching Programme, I feel more confident to face the numerous challenges that will confront me and also I feel a growing inspiration to strive for excellence both on and off the field.”
FORMER golfing girl wonder Maria Nunes will defend her gross score title when the 10th Moet and Chandon Golf Tournament tees off at the St Andrews Golf Course, Moka, Maraval, tomorrow.
The action is timed to begin at 9.30 am in the series sponsored by Alstons Marketing Company Limited (AMCO). A total of 100 of the country’s leading golfers are expected to tee off, including Judy Cooper the women’s nett winner, Shane Costelloe who won the men gross, Ian Abraham the nett, Teddy Grell the veterans gross and Errol Ajodha the nett. There will also be prizes for Nearest the Pin on two three-par holes at the tournament.
CL FINANCIAL San Juan Jabloteh and North East Stars need only a draw in their respective First Citizens Bank (FCB) Cup second-leg semi-finals on July 23.
The final of the second edition of the cup is scheduled for July 30. In first-leg semi-final action on Wednesday evening, Jabloteh blew past Joe Public 3-0 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, while the consistent North East Stars staged a come-from-behind 2-1 win over W Connection at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. At Mucurapo, a youthful “Eastern Lions” outfit, minus national players Nigel “Croc” Pierre and Keyeno Thomas, gave Jabloteh a scare in the 26th — midfielder Densil Theobald smashing the bar with a thunderous left-footer from inside the penalty box after a long centre from Devon Caseman. But the experienced Jabloteh earned a penalty two minutes later, when striker Cornell Glen was bundled over by defender Jason Springer. Referee Jagdesh Bhimull pointed to the spot and Otis Seaton rifled his spotkick past goalkeeper Michael McComie.
Joe Public’s lone striker Andre Toussaint found himself on a one-and-one with Jabloteh’s Kelvin Jack in the 33rd, but the 2002 Pro League MVP had his right-footer blocked by Jack. Joe Public’s attackers were guilty of over-dribbling, especially when under pressure by the experiened Jabloteh defence of Ansil Elcock and Ian Gray, while their defence always looked vulnerable to the speedy Jabloteh strike pair of Glen and Kerry Noray. McComie saw an attempted lob by Jabloteh’s right-winger Josh Johnson crash off the uprights in the 50th while Noray, taking a left side centre from Glen, hit his shot wide of the mark two minutes later. But two goals in the space of a minute by national midfielder Kerry Baptiste put the game beyond the reach of the “Lions.” Committing players forward for a Terrance McAllister corner in the 63rd, the Joe Public defence was left exposed and a string of passes from Glen, Seaton and Johnson, Baptiste was found unmarked in the box and, on his second touch, sent a low right footer past the flat-footed McComie.
McComie was also left bemused when a Baptiste header, from a Johnson’s centre, went past him in the 64th, to the delight of the Jabloteh supporters. Garvin McKenna, unmarked in the box, struck his right footer wide in the 73rd while Devin Elcock had his shot blocked by Jack in the 89th. Toussaint had a miserable evening overall, and his woes were compounded when he had two goals disallowed for offside, in the third and 90th minutes. In Marabella, national striker Kendall Davis put Connection in front with a 42nd minute goal but the Sangre Grande-based Stars replied courtesy a double from Carey Harris, in the 51st and 90th.
BOTH Charlotteville Unifiers and Georgia FC scored only their second victories this season in the Premier Division of the Warner Group of Companies-sponsored Tobago Football Asso-ciation Semi-Professional Football League.
On Wednesday at the Dwight Yorke Stadium training ground, Georgia shut out Earlbrokes 3-0 to leap-frog into sixth position on the standings. Burton Phillip fired in a double and his brother Atwell Phillip got the other goal to kill off Earlbrokes. And at Roxborough ground, Unifiers beat Hope Village Milan 3-1 with Maurice Eastman, Kervin McKenna and Kevon Martin the goalscorers for the winners. Hyram Sealy scored the consolation. There was zonal action on Tuesday, when Main Street shut out DSX Young Hearts 3-0 in the Western Conference. They got goals from Terry Williams, Kyron Arthur and Asha Koo, while Kevon Thom struck the lone goal for Young Hearts. Golden Lane also had a shut out, beating Stag Uprising 2-0 with goals from Imla Taylor and Tyronne Stirling. And in the other Western Conference game, Leeds United whipped Signal Hill United 2-0, with Robert Toney scoring both goals. Mason Hall drubbed Northside Combined 6-0 in the only Eastern Conference match on Wednesday. Both Kevin Patterson and Joel Quashie got doubles, while Ashley Lyons and Tyron McPherson got the other goals for the winners.
UNIT TRUST Maloney Pacers have made it into both the First and Second Division finals of the Eastern Community Basketball League.
The Pacers beat Sangre Grande All Stars 74-61 in their First Division semi-final at the Maloney Indoor Sport Complex. Although Pacers’ Miguel Williams and Grande’s Joel Roshford both scored a game-high 16 points, it was Williams’ five blocked shots which may have changed the face of the final scoreline. Derrick Boxhill added 13 points to the Pacers’ cause, while Grande’s David Langton’s 15 points and seven steals proved futile. A strong showing from the Veterans outfit in the Second Division semi-final helped them to beat Caledonia Clippers 81-62. Veterans’ Barry Stewart scored a game-high 29 points and snatched 13 rebounds, while Derek “Cornbread” James put in 20 points and ripped down 11 rebounds. Clippers’ Kerwin Laress scored a valiant 22 points and William Marques contributed 13 points to the Clippers’ resistance. The finals will be be played tonight at the same venue.
POWERGEN are pleased to continue to make a contribution to the development of the youth of Trinidad and Tobago.
Corporate communications manager Omar Khan, of Powergen, said: “We are pleased to know that we have made and continue to make a meaningful contribution to the young people of our nation through sports and education.” He made the comment at the formal launch of the 2003-2004 Powergen National Youth Development Cricket Coaching Programme at the Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Development Centre, Balmain, Couva, yesterday morning. He said, “This is the fifth consecutive year of the coaching programme which has made our company the largest contributor to the development of youth cricket in the history of Trinidad and Tobago.” The Powergen contribution extends to the Secondary Schools Cricket League and the Class 17 Inductees at the Sir Frank Worrell Cricket Development Centre who graduated last month after a one-year training course.
Khan said, “I can think of no single deed that we can do that can be more rewarding than restoring Trinidad and Tobago and West Indian pride by contributing to the effort of once more taking Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies to the top of regional and world cricket. “The future of Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies depends entirely on the types of programmes that are put in place today for the cricketers of tomorrow,” he said. Khan emphasised that sports played a great part in character development, and felt gifted sportsmen and sportswomen besides having skills must develop “the right attitude if you want to continue to be successful.”
There will be 70 coaching centres throughout the country with over 100 coaches and approximately 4,000 youths being involved. Joy Ramlogan, Director of Legal Affairs of Powergen, noted that the Under-15 National Team won the regional title three years in a row and the Under-19s were runners-up last year. And she said,“Only when we can emerge as champions then we would be satisfied that all our efforts in programmes like these would have been truly worthwhile and meaningful.” Roy Saroop, the Secretary of the Coaching Programme, gave an overview of the project, and was certain that if “you take the game seriously you will reach the top.” Saroop also congratulated Anisa Mohammed, the North Eastern College student, on her selection on the West Indies women cricket team to play in Holland later this month.
