N Touch

Connection tame Lions 3-0

W CONNECTION trounced the” Eastern Lions” Joe Public 3-0 at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya, Tunapuna, in 10th round action of the T&T Pro League   yesterday.

Connection jumped to second on the 10-team standings with 20 points, two behind CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh, whose scheduled encounter against “The Stallions” Caledonia AIA at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, was cancelled. North East Stars ended Defence Force’s six-week winning streak with a 2-0 victory at the Sangre Grande Recreation Ground, with goals from Guyanese striker Randolph Jerome and newly-capped national midfielder Anthony Wolfe.

In the clash of the lower-placed squads, South West Institute of Football (SWIF) were held to a 1-1 draw against Arima Fire at the Palo Seco Recreation Ground. Lanky defender Jace Peters sent the hosts in front, scoring in the 11th minute, but the firemen equalised through Anthony Haynes in the 50th. However, SWIF wasted a golden chance of recording their third win of the season when national Under-23 midfielder Bevon Clement missed a penalty four minutes from time.

Under-20 results: SWIF (3) Makisi Peters, Kazi Lara, Ghymyo Harper vs ARIMA FIRE (1) -Dwane Ellis; NORTH EAST STARS (3) vs DEFENCE FORCE (2); W CONNECTION (2) vs JOE PUBLIC (1).





















































































































































































































































Current standings:
Senior Division
P W D L F A Pts
Jabloteh 8 7 1 0 26 6 22
Connection 9 6 2 1 20 8 20
D/Force 10 6 0 4 17 18 18
N/East Stars 10 5 2 3 14 10 17
Strikers 9 4 2 3 17 12 14
Joe Public 10 2 7 1 13 14 13
SWIF 10 2 4 4 15 20 10
Caledonia 9 1 3 5 8 13 6
Arima Fire 10 1 3 6 6 19 6
Tobago Utd 9 0 2 7 2 19 2
Under-20 Division
P W D L F A Pts
Starworld Strikers 9 6 1 2 21 12 19
San Juan Jabloteh 8 6 1 1 18 4 19
W Connection 9 5 2 2 22 10 17
Caledonia AIA 9 4 3 2 18 10 15
Joe Public 9 3 4 2 18 11 13
Arima Fire 10 4 1 6 16 21 13
Defence Force 10 3 1 6 22 24 10
North East Stars 9 3 1 5 10 16 10
SWIF 10 2 3 5 10 20 10
Tobago United 9 1 1 7 5 28 4

Australia odds 1/17 to crush Bangladesh

DARWIN: Bookma-kers are offering odds of 17-1 on Australia’s chances of winning the first Test against Bangladesh inside a single day.

Some former Australian internationals, opposed to Bangladesh’s sudden elevation to Test status, have urged the country’s current crop of players to take up the challenge to prove the Asians do not deserve their place among the game’s elite. But captain Steve Waugh has still urged his players to treat the tourists similarly to their other opponents. “We expect it to be a Test match and we’re going to play as hard as we can,” Waugh said. “We’re going to play as if it’s going to be a tough Test match.”

Australia beat England inside three days to wrap up the Ashes in the last Australian summer but such is the enormous gulf between Bang-ladesh, who have never won a Test, that an even quicker victory does not seem impossible. The result of their two-Test series already seems a foregone conclusion but Waugh has been keen to play down the prospects of a landslide win. He stopped short of saying Bangladesh had any chance of winning the series but said they could be more competitive than most people think. “Bangladesh may play well and you never know, that’s what sport is all about,” he said. The first Test starts in Darwin on Friday with the second game starting a week later in Cairns.  

TT athletes blanked at U-18 Worlds

TRINIDAD AND Tobago’s nine-member track and field team ended the third IAAF World Under-18 Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada yesterday with one medal courtesy sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste, in the girls’ 100 metres.

In action yesterday, Cory Gibbs placed 11th out of 13 finalists in the boys’ high jump while the girls medley relay squad of Baptiste, Monique Cabral, Crystal Skeete and Abigail David, was disqualified in the final.Gibbs, the 2002 CARIFTA gold medallist, had a best attempt of two metres flat while four of his challengers sharing gold with 2.11m- Martin Gnther of Germany, Oleksandr Nartov of Ukraine, Hikaru Tsuchiya of Japan and Philipp Britner of Russia. In the relay final, the United States set a new world record of two minutes 3.87 seconds, with Jamaica 2:07.05 and Russia 2:07.52 trailing.

Sidey’s move on in Tobago football

SIDEY’S FC moved into strong contention in the Premier Division of the Warner’s Group of Companies-sponsored Tobago Football Association Semi-Professional League with a 2-1 victory over Earlbrokes.

Sylvester John and Junior Lyons scored the winners’ goals in Friday night’s game at the Roxborough ground.  An own-goal from Kwesi Kent gave Earlbrokes their tally. Bethel leapt into third position on the standings with a narrow 1-0 win over George FC at Shaw Park. Joel John got what turned out to be the only goal of the match. Hope Village Milan edged Pepsi Hills United 1-0 with a 58th minute goal by Devon Edwards at the Dwight Yorke Stadium training ground yesterday to skip out of the bottom rung of the standings. In zonal action, Argyle Youth Stars whipped Northside Combined 5-1 in the Eastern Conference, while Roxborough Lakers edged Calder Hall 2-1 and Mason Hall Police Youth Club stopped King David Goal City 2-1 in the same conference. Golden Lane overcame Signal Hill United 3-1 in their  Eastern Conference clash.

De La Rosa smashes 50m Long Course record

MORIBA DE LA ROSA set a new national record, in the boys eight-and-under 50 metre backstroke, as the National Age Group Long Course Swimming Championships at Marlins Swim Pool, Westmoorings continued.

The Blue Dolphins representative whipped his field to win Saturday’s final in 38.63 seconds, well inside the previous mark of 38.95 set by Stuart Pascal in December 1986. Kareem Baptiste of Stingrays was a distant second in 42.90 with Christian Awah of Tidal Wave third in 47.04. De La Rosa will later claim the 50m breaststroke in 47.07 seconds, ahead of clubmate Daniel Tardieu 49.70 and Josiah Morales of Stingrays 55.57. Also winning double gold were Marlins’ Melanie Charles, in the girls 15-and-over, as well as the Piranha Aquatics duo of Kimba Collymore, in the girls 13-14s, and Andre Schamber, in the boys 13-14. Charles was victorious in the 200m freestyle in two minutes 21.94 seconds, with Shimonah Lutchmedial taking silver in 2:40.44 and another Piranha swimmer Collette Joseph bronze in 2:43.91; and the 200m individual medley in 2:44.57, with Krystal Huggins of Stingrays second in 3:02.55 and Joseph third in 3:08.19.

Collymore took the 50m backstroke in 38.24, followed by the Flying Fish pair of Charese McDonald 40.41 and Camille Brown 40.67, and the 200m individual medley in 2:41.79, ahead of Marlins’ Chantal Redon 2:48.74 and fellow Piranha, Whitney Wint 2:49.17. The younger sister of ace national swimmer Ayeisha will later take bronze in the 200m freestyle in 2:24.51, behind Redon 2:22.83 and Donna Marie Wickham of Tidal Wave 2:24.38. Schamber won the 100m backstroke in 1:08.73, followed by Marlins’ Jules Graham 1:12.62 and Piranhas’ John Ross Andrews 1:12.88, and the 200m IM in 2:30.10, ahead of Graham 2:31.52 and Jarryd Gregoire of (Marlins 2:39.11. The five-day meet was expected to conclude last night.

Other results:  Girls 8-and-under 50m backstroke: 1.Kimberlee John-Williams (Piranhas) 40.17; 2.Cardesha Lyons (Stingrays) 41.81; 3.Khadija Thornhill (Stingrays) 44.59.
Boys 11-12 200m freestyle: 1.Joel Sankar (La Joya) 2:23.12; 2.Nathan Percy (Marlins) 2:26.41; 3.Osei Campbell (Flying Fish) 2:26.86.
Boys 13-14 200m freestyle: 1.John Ross Andrews (Piranhas) 2:12.09; 2.Andre Schamber (Piranhas) 2:12.72; 3.Gregory Lambie (Marlins) 2:13.91.
Girls 15-and-over 50m breaststroke: 1.Sobenna George (Marlins) 37.20; 2.Krystal Huggins (Stingrays) 39.18; 3.Rohini Mankee (Flying Fish) 43.32.
Girls 8-and-under 50m backstroke: 1.Cardesha Lyons 47.77; 2.Kimberlee John-Williams (Piranhas) 49.11; 3.Khadija Thornhill (Stingrays) 52.56.
Girls 13-14 100m backstroke: 1.Donna Marie Wickham 1:13.98; 2.Whitney Wint (Piranhas) 1:20.65; 3.Dayna Jacob (Marlins) 1:24.23.
Girls 15-and-over 100m backstroke: 1.Renee Pouchet (Blue Dolphins) 1:15.87; 2.Shimonah Lutchmedial 1:23.07; 3.Rohini Mankee 1:23.87.
Boys 15-and-over 100m backstroke: 1.Tron Johnson (Marlins) 1:03.24; 2.Orlando Thom (Tidal Wave) 1:03.98; 3.Vincent Tardieu (Blue Dolphins) 1:06.71.

Song Of Freedom back in tune

SONG OF FREEDOM who had enjoyed a good early season before giving a lack lustre performance in the CLICO Santa Rosa Dash last month, showed glimpses of the past on the exercise course at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, yesterday.

The four-year-old gelded son of Boston Harbour as though wanting to tell connections that his last race should be forgotten, posted the impressive time of 47.44 seconds for his 800 metres spin under jockey Brian Harding. The Grant Lourenco charge could be seen out next in the Handicap 1 and Lower feature on Saturday. Lovely Honoree who could be among the runners in Saturday’s main event over 1100 metres on the turf was another to have pleased. The Harold Chadee three-year-old import which seemed to have overcome her headstrong ways, posted 49.13 seconds over the identical trip to also attain ‘good’ in the remarks column of the Arima Race Club official clockers report. Redoubled seems not to be able to transform his exercise form into his races.

The roan grey, who might be on the waiting list before being deemed a “morning glory” continue to raise eyebrows. The four-year-old son of Bandsman who recently joined the barn of Chester Roberts was full of life in his solo spin timed in 49.27 seconds between the 800 metre marker in the back stretch to the winning line. Magen was another to have caught the eye. The Jose William-Samaroo inmate who turned out minutes after the course was opened, registered 1:03.10 on the clock for work over the last 1000 metres of the course. Other good workouts on the main course came from Female Bandit, Java Take Over and Set To Battle, and  Indian Decision over 400 metres, while  Cheerleader and Lazar Wolf, Honeybelle, Tora Bora and Classy Kim, Toronto Star and Peace Consort, were among those having pleasing runs over 600 metres.   

Following are gallops recorded yesterday: 400 METRES: Female Bandit – 24.00, good. Winning Trick – 28.05, pacing. You’ve Got Mail – 29.88, pacing. Java Takeover and All Set For Battle – 24.98, good. The Chairman – 29.18, pacing.  Indian Decision – 24.39, good. Ex Jetset Nurse, Ex Island Chimes and Coo – 29.93, pacing. Ex Third And Main, Chief Commander, Mighty Rose and Ex Honeymoon – 29.91. Pacing. Cornerstone – 29.34, pacing.
600 METRES: Toronto Star and Peace Consort – 36.37, good.  Cheerleader and Lazar Wolf – 37.03, good. Sure Wager – 44.97, pacing. Champagne Wager – 40.27, handily. Balthazar – 40.59, handily. Richie Rich – 40.79, easy. Ruby Rich – 43.03, pacing. Ex Musical Cascade and Ex Be Quick At It – 41.97, pacing. Honeybelle – 36.70, good. Invincibility – 42.07, pacing. Juan The Man – 40.18, handily. Pile Of Cash and Lady Croft – 39.68, easy. Millenium Reign – 43.70, pacing. X To Board – 44.93, pacing. Stormy Season – 37.69, handily. Hyarima and Ex Honey Star – 39.37, handily. Tora Bora and Classy Kim – 37.28, good.Crimson Tower – 41.54, easy. Salsa Moves and Sunday Jewel – 41.50, handily. Miss Beautiful – 38.65, handily. Ex Let’s Get Cracking – 42.06, pacing. Napoleon – 37.42, handily. V For Victory – 37.86, handily. Tribal Place – 39.95, handily. Melanie My Love, Laura’s Boy and Java In Style – 36.77, good. Ex Not Very Nice – 44.890, pacing. Ex Up Tempo – 42.78, pacing.
800 METRES: Song Of Freedom – 47.44, good. Lovely Honoree – 49.13, good. Redoubled – 49.27, good. Guatama – 50.64, good. Cat Woman – 59.99, pacing. Duchess Trembly and Skye – 56.39, pacing. Take Over, Atlantic Breeze, Ex Safety Deposit  and Jay Low – 54.14, handily. Gaza Strip – 50.18, good. Fantastic Lad – 55.67, pacing. Golden Shufleur and Fresh Tempo – 53.03, handily. City Of Lights and Fromnowuntil – 50.90, good. Gold Conveyor – 52.87, easy.
1000 METRES: Magen – 1:03.10, good. Full Of Promises – 1:06.36, handily.Kent’s Delight – 1:10.71, easy. Sheer Magic – 1:10.17, easy (Boxes).
1200 METRES: Hundred Percent – 1:27.03, pacing.

FIFA happy with Centre of Excellence

TRINIDAD and Tobago FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF boss Jack Austin Warner, was happy the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence facility pleased a six-member FIFA fact-finding mission. But he expressed great disappointment  that Trinidad and Tobago is yet to get their Goal Project off the ground.

This Goal Project is supposed to involve the construction of a national training centre at Forest Reserve, Fyzabad. And the reason put forward for the project’s stalling is government’s delay in making the land at Forest Reserve available to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). The FIFA delegation left here last week impressed with the facilities at the Centre of Excellence at Macoya, Tunapuna, and indicated their intention to have the other confederations follow suit in establishing similar sites. Urs Zanitti,  head of the FIFA Goal Department held meetings with Warner and local Goal development officer Keith Look Loy with discussions centred around  planning the programme for the next two-three years.

Accompanying Zanitti were Tamara Martin, FIFA’s Goal representative for South America/Oceania; Claudio Pilot (Central America, Caribbean and Europe); Hugo Salcedo, Development Officer from Guatemala; Glenn Turner, Development Officer from Auckland, New Zealand,  and Harold Mayne-Nicholls of Paraguay. Warner said: “The $400,000 Goal Project money has languished for over two years and they (FIFA) opted to give it to Jamaica instead. “They (Jamaica) will be turning their sod in September for their Goal facility. When we are ready for this, then we shall start our project. “I don’t know why it takes so long to do anything in this country. Every other country has started their project and have been fully operational. We have to get the land from the government because FIFA won’t buy it for us. “What they want is to have other Confederations to replicate what we have here,” Warner said. The Goal Project was initiated by FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ratified at the extraordinary congress in July 1999. Goal offers tailor-made programmes that are cut out to suit the individual country’s needs and then implemented  by FIFA experts in close corporation with the national associations.

Calypso Girls edge USA 48-42

KINGSTON: The Caribbean number one netballers Jamaica, and former co- world champions Trinidad and Tobago, were among the winners on Day Four of the 2003 Cable & Wireless 11th World Netball Champion-ship (WNC) yesterday.

Jamaica, the Sunshine Girls, defeated South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Girls netballers fended off a spirited United States in two late evening matches. Coming off an emphatic 89-30 win over TT in their opening game Friday night, the world’s fourth-ranked Jamaicans produced a solid 54-33 win over South Africa. And Trinidad and Tobago, who shared the world title with Australia and New Zealand at the 1979 championship in Port-of-Spain, rebounded from their heavy defest by  the Jamaicans to triumph 48-42 over the United States, leading all the way 9-8; 20-19; 34-28. Janelle Barker scored 36 goals from 41 attempts and Simone Morgan 12 of 14 for Trinidad and Tobago whose team were: Lystra Solomon, Carlette Nurse, Anastasacia Wilson, Rhonda John and Stacy Sparks. England, rated number three in the world, raced to their second consecutive win when they defeated Fiji 62-30.

On Saturday night, made an impressive start to the defence of their title with a 73-22 win over the USA also late on Saturday night. Eloise Southby scored 26 goals from 30 attempts, Cynna Neele got 24 from 28 and sharp shooter Sharelle McMahon used sparingly, netted 17 of 20 attempts. The Silver Ferns of New Zealand were unrelenting in their opening game against sister nation, Niue, they crushing  the South Pacific island nation 99-1 at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston yesterday. Goal-shoot Irene Van Dyke led the Silver Ferns with  34 goals from 37 attempts, while Jodi Te Huina had 23 from 28 and Bellinda Colling got 24 goals from 28 attempts, while Tania Dalton added  18 from 20. Jayde Swan netted six from 15 attempts, while sister Savannah Swan scored two from seven and Julie Folomu three from four for Niue. 


In other games, St Vincent (45) vs Wales (37); St Lucia (49) vs Northern Ireland (35); Grenada (47) vs  Canada (37); Sri Lanka (81) vs Cayman Islands (36);  Scotland (41) vs Hong Kong (18); Antigua/Barbuda (54) v Bermuda (25).
Saturday’s results:  Grenada (41) vs St Lucia (59);  St Vincent (48) vs  Antigua/Barbuda (38); Scotland (42) vs Northern Ireland (33); Sri Lanka (69) vs Bermuda (30); Hong Kong (20) vs Canada (52); Cayman Is (27) vs Wales (79); Fiji (55) vs Barbados (46); South Africa (57) vas Samoa (41).  

Pollsters forecast a majority of seats and corporations for PNM

TODAY is Local Government Election  in Trinidad and a total of 855,919 people are eligible to vote.

Political pundits are placing their bets on the ruling PNM to take the majority of seats and corporations. The party now controls eight of the 14 municipal corporations. There are 126 seats up for grabs. Political analysts believe that the results of this election would be a major test for the leadership of the UNC, coming so soon after the general election defeat. The pollsters have said that the UNC will lose control of the Sangre Grande and Siparia Regional Corporations and the PNM will make inroads in the traditional UNC held Chaguanas Borough. They are predicting a tie in the Rio Claro/Mayaro Corporation. Voter turnout is also expected to be low, as is traditional in Local Government election, despite the national outlook of both parties’ campaigning over the past weeks.

The polls will open at 6 am and close at 6 pm. The electors list has decreased by 26,780 when compared to the 1999 election, when 882,699 persons were registered to vote. Of that amount in 1999 only 341,794 or 41.8 percent of electors cast their ballots. There are 126 seats to be contested this year, two more seats than in 1999. The two new seats are Wallerfield/La Horquetta in the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation and Freeport/Calcutta in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corpora-tion. The five week campaign for today’s election has been described by some as fierce, while others totally disagreed saying it lacked the “fire” of an election. The election will be contested by the People’s National Movement (PNM), the United National Congress (UNC) and the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). The UNC and the NAR are in an accommodation, with the UNC contesting 107 seats and the NAR 19. The PNM will contest all 126 seats. The UNC will contest seats in the seven corporations which it now controls,  and the NAR will field its candidates mainly in the Port-of-Spain, Diego Martin and San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporations.

Two independent candidates will also face the polls. They are Sultan Khan (Reform/Manahambre) and Edwin Granger (Mayaro). Khan was a former UNC member. Persons registered as special voters have already cast their ballots for today’s election. There were 10,508 persons registered as special voters. They began voting last Tuesday at various offices of Returning Officers, and on Wednesday at special voting booths established by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC). Special voters ended their voting yesterday at 3 pm. There are concerns within the UNC about the integrity of the voting process. An irregularity occurred with the special voting in two areas in San Fernando- Marabella East and Marabella West. The UNC has already indicated that it would challenge the results via an election petition if it loses either of those seats. The election is usually held every three years, and was due to be held last year. However, because of the 18/18 deadlock in the 2001 General Election and a subsequent election last year, the legislation paving the way for the Local Government elections lapsed. Following debate of the Act to validate the fourth report of the Elections and Boundaries Commission in Parliament earlier  this year, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced July 14 as the date for the election in a statement in the Senate on June 3.

The last election in 1999 saw the UNC, which then held the reigns of power, taking control of the Sangre Grande, Rio Claro/Mayaro, Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Penal/Debe and Princes Town Regional Corporations as well as the Chaguanas Borough Corporation. The PNM maintained its hold on the Port-of-Spain, San Fernando, Arima and Point Fortin Borough Corporations and the Diego Martin, San Juan/Laventille, Tunapuna/ Piarco Corporations. Both parties held equal amount of seats, four each, in the Siparia Regional Corporation, and after the pulling of straws, the corporation was subsequently declared to be UNC controlled, with the appointment of a UNC Chairman. The marginal seat in that Corporation is the Siparia East/San Francique South district, which in the 1999 election the UNC won by 95 votes. The San Fernando City Council, controlled by the PNM will also be monitored closely, especially the three marginal districts. They are the Cocoyea/Tarouba seat which was won by one vote; the Marabella South/Vistabella, which was won by 14 votes and the Marabella East district which was won by 25 votes in 1999. All three districts were won by the PNM. The Sangre Grande Corporation, which is expected to fall to the PNM also has two marginal districts. They are the Sangre Grande Northeast and Manzanilla districts, which the UNC won by 55 and 70 votes respectively. Results of today’s poll are expected to be released from about seven o’clock this evening.

Belmont man kidnapped

A 35-year-old man who is a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association was kidnapped around 2 am yesterday.

Damien Schneider, 35, of Sandhurst Street, Belmont, left his home on Saturday in company with a friend. The two went to Club Coconuts and later to a pub at Chase Village, Chaguanas, where they limed until early yesterday. The friend told police that the last time he saw Schneider was when he dropped him off. An eyewitness told officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad that Schneider was driving his car close to his home when he was confronted by two men. The men forced him into a waiting car while another man took control of Schneider’s car, a green Toyota Tercell. When Schneider failed to return home, a report was made to the Belmont Police. The car was discovered intact at Beetham Estate yesterday. Fingerprints experts were called out to try and lift prints from the car. Schneider is the son of a businessman involved in real estate. Up until late yesterday no ransom was demanded by the kidnappers.