ST. GEORGE’S: Trinidad and Tobago dethroned St Lucia to capture the league title of the 2003 West Indies Women’s Cricket Tournament here on Tuesday. Both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica were awarded full points in their matches marred by controversy. Trinidad and Tobago ended the tournament on 12 points, followed by St Lucia with 10, and Jamaica on seven, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and Grenada joint fourth on five points each. Guyana finished on two points, while North America, a combined United States and Canadian outfit, lost all their matches. The organisers decided on Tuesday night to give TT the maximum three points for their match against Grenada after the hosts failed to take the field for the start of Trinidad and Tobago’s innings at the Victoria Park in Grenville. The Grenadians, sent to bat, were bowled out for 113 off 42.2 overs, with top scores from Susan Redhead (17), Lydia Edgar (16) and Marilyn Nelson (14).

The 14-year-old off-spinner Anisa Mohammed took five for 20 off 10 overs for TT and left-arm spinner Shane DeSilva captured two for 36 off seven. The match was halted by rain and Grenada refused to continue when umpires decided to resume play at 4 pm local time. Yesterday was a rest day and the teams return to action today for the start of the knockout tournament, with Grenada playing SVG at La Sagesse, St. Lucia meeting North America at Tanteen, and Jamaica tackling Guyana at River Sallee. New league champions Trinidad and Tobago, who are defending the knockout title, received a bye and will face the winner of the Grenada/SVG match in tomorrow’s semi-finals. The final is set for Saturday.         

 

 

 

 

FORMER World 200 Metres champion Ato Boldon heads a list of 90 athletes yesterday ratified by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee for the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo in August. Also included in the list of athletes and officials are boxer Kurt Manswell, Commonwealth silver medallist; and world junior sprint champion Darrel Brown. Yesterday Brian Lewis, Chef de Mission of the team said the athletes were approved based on their meeting the qualifying standards and the fitness tests conducted by the Olympic Committee. He said it would cost approximately one million dollars to send the team to Santo Domingo. However Lewis stressed the priority of the Olympic Committee was to provide the environment to prepare the athletes adequately to challenge for medals. Lewis is optimistic that the local contingent will give a better account of themselves than the last time in Winnipeg, Canada when TT won a bronze medal in the cycling competition through Mario Joseph. He said the locally-based athletes will get an excellent opportunity to fine-tune their preparation in regional competitions and at overseas camps. This involves the badminton team in the CAREBACO Championships in Trinidad; the track and field team at the Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships in Grenada; and the swimmers at the upcoming CCAN Championships. Lewis said the Olympic Committee are extending assistance to several disciplines in the lead-up to the Pan American Championships. One of the beneficiaries is boxer Manswell who is currently in Cuba on a training stint. The Tobagonian heavyweight is the only Caribbean boxer to qualify for the Pan Am Games and will be seeking to go one ahead and win a place in the Athens Olympics competition with victory in Santo Domingo. Following is the list of athletes and officials approved by the Olympic Committee yesterday for the Pan Am Games.

Badminton: (Men) Anil Seepaul, Darron Charles, Kerwyn Pantin, Glendon Thomas; (Women) Sabrina Cassie, Zeudi Mack, Nadine Julien, Stephanie Mitchell; Ronald Clarke (manager), Daron Dascent (coach).
Boxing: Kerston Manswell, Gordon Hoyte (manager), Vicente Martinez (coach).
Volleyball: (men) Nolan tTsh, Sean Morrison, Daymian Stewart (manager), Juan Carlos Gala (coach).
Hockey: 16 athletes, 4 officials; (Women) 16 athletes, 4 officials.
Shhoting: (Rifle Men) Takoor Sankar, Taran Deosaran; (Pistol Men) Roger Daniel; (Pistol Women) Cheryl-Ann Logie; (Trap Men) Trevor Lall; Clarion Tang Choon (manager), Brent Thomas (coach), Allen Trestrail (manager-Trap).
Equestrian: Margaret Auerbach, Sara McCartney (manager), Greta Wrigley (coach), Randy Bridgelal (groom).
Swimming: (Men) George Bovell, Nicholas Bovell, Matthew Hollier, Ryan Yearwood, John Littlepage; (Women) Linda McEachrane, Sharntelle McLean, Shannon Duval, Catherine Lee Ha, Ayeisha Collymore, George Bovell Snr., (manager), Anil Roberts (coach).
Taekwondo: Cheryl Ann Sankar, Lyle Alexander (manager), Sherland Flores (coach),.
Tennis: (Men) Shane Stone, Troy Stone, Ivor Grazette; (Women) Annaliese Rose, Ashton Wharwood (manager), Richard Ferdinand (coach).
Athletics: (Men) Darrel Brown, Jacey Harper — 100m; Marvin Regis, Julien Raeburn — 200m; Ato Modibo, Damian Barry — 400m; Sheridan Kirk — 800m; Quincey Howe —- triple jump; Cleavon Dillon — long jump; Dave Stoute — shot put; Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Nicconor Alexander, Ato Boldon, Jacey Harper, Cleavon Dillon — 4X100m; Ato Modibo, Sheridan Kirk, Jamil James, Damian Barry, Julien Raeburn — 4X400m; (Female) Fana Ashby, Kelliann Baptiste — 100m; Keenan Gibson, Fana Ashby — 200m; Adia McKinnon — 400m; Melissa de Leon — 800m; Cabndice Scott, Cleopatra Borrell — shot put; Candice Scott — Hammer; Onika James — long jump; Fana Ashby, Keenan Gibson, Onika James, Kelliann Baptiste , Wanda Josanne Hutson, Adia McKinnon — 4X100m; Carlene Haynes (manager), George Commissiong (assistant manager), Nadine Hamid (head coach), Gunness Persad (assistant coach)
Olympic Committete Oficials: Brian Lewis (Chef de Mission), Wendell La Bastide (assistant Chef de Mission);
Medical: Dr Terry Ali, Dr Dale Hassranah, Dr Keith Clifford
Sports Psychologist: Dr Margaret Ottley
Physiotherapists: Karielle de Bique, Chanol Ottley
Massage Therapists: Andre Ferguson, Linda Tang Yew, Jane Durham, Ian Sharpe.

ZURICH:  Trinidad and Tobago, the reigning Caribbean Cup holders, have slipped to 54th on the world football list. But Jamaica retained their number 48 spot in the world and number one rating in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). In FIFA’s June ratings, the Jamaicans, who re-entered FIFA’s top-50 in April after more than a year outside of that range solidified their position as regional leaders, after nearest rivals Trinidad and Tobago dropped two places. Trinidad and Tobago led the CFU rankings for over three years from February 2000, until they were overtaken by Jamaica two months ago, following their failure to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Cuba, currently ranked 63rd, can significantly alter their position with favourable results at next month’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, where other Caribbean sides Jamaica and Martinique will appear. Haiti, 84th in the world, and Barbados (94th) are the only other CFU teams in FIFA’s top-100.

There is no positional change in the CFU’s top-10 although all the teams slipped a few places on the world list. St. Lucia, 110th in the world, are sixth in the CFU, followed by St Kitts and Nevis (119th), Grenada (141st) and Suriname (147th), and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (153rd). Five-time world champions Brazil remain world number one, ahead of France, with Spain third. Argentina climbed one place to fourth, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey and England, with reigning CONCACAF Gold Cup champions United States ninth, and Czech Republic 10th. Italy are joint 11th with Mexico, who slipped two places from ninth on the May list.

RANKING OF CFU TEAMS
(World ranking in bracket)
1 Jamaica (48th); 2 Trinidad & Tobago (54); 3 Cuba (63); 4 Haiti (84); 5 Barbados (94); 6 St. Lucia (110); 7 St. Kitts /Nevis (119); 8 Grenada (141); 9 Suriname (147); 10 St. Vincent / Grenadines (153); 11 Dominican Republic (157); 12 Antigua/Barbuda (159); 13 British Virgin Islands (166); 14 Cayman Islands (173); 15 Guyana (177); 16 Bermuda (179); 17 Dominica (181); 18 Netherlands Antilles (184); 19 Bahamas (190); 20 Aruba (194); 21 Anguilla (197);
22 US Virgin Islands (198); 23 Puerto Rico (200); 24 Turks /Caicos Islands (203); 25 Montserrat (204).                                                

A SECONDARY school teacher is the new Algico National Blitz Chess Champion. On Saturday Michael Pouchet denied Christo Cave his second national title in two weeks when he pipped him for the Blitz honours at the Student Activity Centre, University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Pouchet, 36, is an Advanced Mathematics teacher at St Francois Girls’ College in Belmont and attained success in his first competitive attempt at the shortened version of the game. In third place was FIDE Master Mario Merritt. The tournament was organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Chess Association headed by Bhisham Soondarsingh and sponsored for the second year by Algico, an insurance company. Pouchet, originally a Diego Martin native who now lives in Tacarigua said he was pleased with his winning performance. He admitted at not being among the favourites on Saturday but his hours of practice paid off in the end as he topped a high-class field to emerge victorious. “On the day I came out the best player because everything clicked. I concentrated well and did not make too many errors,” said the soft-spoken Pouchet, who has the reputation of being a  brilliant mathematician.

He has been in the frontline of local chess for many years but the Algico Blitz success will mark his breakthrough into an elite group and brand him as one to beat in future tournaments. Pouchet has represented Trinidad and Tobago overseas, notably in the Chess Olympiad of 1998 in Russia. He was also selected to travel to Turkey three years ago but did not go because of financial constraints. He said his skills have been honed by years of study and practice against top opponents since his schooldays. It is an effort which finally paid off in the quickfire Blitz showdown which attracted 24 participants. Overall Pouchet won seven of his nine games and ended tied with Cave on seven points but he won the tie-break on an established scoring system which takes into consideration the calibre of the players defeated in the early rounds as opposed to the latter part of the tournament. In this case Pouchet’s conquests were deemed more worthy than Cave’s when the comparison was made to determine the winner of the Algico Championship. Soondarsingh said the insurance company has been a loyal supporter of the sport and apart from the Blitz Championships also offer valuable incentives and prizes to the Palladins and Knights Club tournaments respectively.

Honour Roll
National Championship: 1 Christo Cave; 2 Ryan Harper; 3 Cecil Lee; 4 Mario Merritt; 5 Ravishen Singh
National Women’s Championship: 1 Desire Derrick; 2 Aditi Soondarsingh; 3 Sinead Furlong.
National Blitz Championship: 1 Michael Pouchet; 2 Christo Cave; 3 Mario Merritt

THE PROFESSIONAL Football League should show signs of being a viable financial enterprise within the next five years. This was the pledge made by Larry Romany, the new chairman of the PFL on Tuesday at the launch of the FCB Cup Knockout tournament in Port-of-Spain. Romany said the underlying structure is currently being put in place and with support from the business sector, the PFL will be able to deliver on its promise within the designated time frame. Last year Romany said the organisation faced several “challenges”, and primary among them was the absence of prize money in the league championship. However he said it was a concerted and conscious decision of the eight teams taking part to forego prize money in the interest of keeping the competition going. And this season also, there has been no mention of prize money. However Romany said on Tuesday there have been significant offers of sponsorship for the PFL but before any commitment is made he wants to ensure that the benefactors would be able to get their just due in return. He announced that soon a Chief

Executive Officer will be appointed to run the affairs of the PFL, supported by qualified staff. “The policy driving the plan for the PFL will be horses for courses. Qualified people will be found to occupy the top management of the organisation,” said Romany. He admitted not being a “football person” and suggested that the CEO may not have any credible background in the sport. This, he said, would not be a bad thing since what was needed was an intellectual approach to the management of the PFL producing creative ideas to drive the plans of the organisation. Romany, a top official in the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, said an effort is also being made to bring back the crowds to football, a difficult task as the popular spectactor sport is up against countless other forms of entertainment especially on the weekends. However, in collaboration with focus groups from several communities, specific high profile matches will be staged once a month with incentives offered to patrons lured by an accompanying media campaign. “The PFL knows how to run football. This part is well taken care of. Our effort is now putting in place an administration to successfully execute our plans,” said Romany. “We have to work together as a team to make the PFL a success,” he said.