This announcement was made at a media conference at Alicia’s Guest House, St Ann’s.

TT BBC chairman Annabelle Davis, who noted that the MOU was made on Saturday in Los Angeles, United States, revealed, “(it) allows us to facilitate the launch of the WBC Amateur and the WBC Youth Professional League, not just here in Trinidad and Tobago, which we’re now forming the cornerstone, but in the (Caribbean) region as well.” About Potts’ new role, Davis said, “(he) has been asked by the WBC to work as a consultant in the region.”

She added, “Mr Potts’ role as special adviser has come to an end but (he) has decided, together with the Board, that it is a role that he no longer needs to play.”

Potts, who was also a known boxing matchmaker, commented, “Trinidad and Tobago would have the first ever WBC Youth Amateur Pro League convention.

It’s going to be launched here in Trinidad and Tobago and the first ever World Cup will be held here in Trinidad and Tobago within a year.”

For his critics, he said, “I want to thank all the naysayers, the doubters for promoting me over the years. So now that the WBC has recognised that the most knowledgeable (boxing) person in the region is Boxu Potts. I want to thank all of you for empowering and enriching me.” Returning to the initiative, Potts pointed out, “this programme will speak volumes to the boxing world. People can feel comfortable to come and watch good old-school boxing rather than the watered- down techniques that AIBA (Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur) tried to implement through the Cuban system.”

He also revealed that, with the backing of Sulaiman, a number of legendary boxing names are likely to be either at the convention here in Trinidad or supporting the venture, including George Foreman, Don King, Oscar De La Hoya, Tommy Hearns, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Marvin Hagler, Lennox Lewis and Larry Holmes. “They all will be here to support this initiative,” Potts boasted, “because they recognise the need to take boxing back to where it belongs.”

Davis also bemoaned the diminished numbers of boxing promoters, as well as the dying breed of professional pugilists, in the twin-island republic.She pointed out she has been mandated by the TT BBC directors to develop initiatives, including a local amateur league (for boxers under the age of 16) through community boxing programmes, that will serve as a nursery for the future breed of local professional fighters.

Also speaking at the launch was former national light-heavyweight boxer Kirt Sinnette, who is a member of the TT BBC.

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I suppose Dexter Voisin would not be a good manager if he did not look on the positive side of Trinidad and Tobago's World Championships performances over the last two weeks.
His charges after all earned two relay medals via the 4x400 men (silver) and the 4x100 women (bronze).
So, he was able to tell Kwame Laurence: “The girls definitely have matured, and this I think is one of the major factors concerning this bronze medal they won. The women have been knocking on the door for a couple years well.
“We had a little setback with Kelly-Ann and Semoy where they were absent (through drug suspensions). It's very good to see that they came back and were basically on top of their game. They started off their season pretty good, and with regards to Semoy she came along every meet she ran, and she really did some great performances here at these Championships.”
Voisin also added: “The 4x4 men over the years have become our strength, always the ones on paper to come through at these major championships. What they displayed here in the individual event was a great achievement. We would have liked to see three going through to the final. That didn't happen, but we had one finalist in Cedenio. It wasn't a bad Championships for the quarter-milers.”

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WITHOUT my teammates this would not have been possible, national cricketer Dwayne Bravo said moments after receiving the Humming Bird Gold medal award.
Bravo dedicated the award to his teammates.
Bravo was one of six winners of the Humming Bird Gold medal at the National Awards held at the Queen’s hall auditorium on Monday night.
“I feel honoured. It is a great achievement for me personally to be recognised by my country. I have been serving my country for quite a while now and I am very happy to achieve something such as big as this and I just want to say congratulations to all the other awardees as well.
“Well done to everyone who put Trinidad and Tobago on the map and to me personally I just want to say thanks to my teammates as well because without my teammates the success I have would not have been possible and this achievement goes out to them as well,” Bravo said.
Although he has travelled all around the world Bravo said he cannot see himself living anywhere else but here.
“This is the only place I can see myself living, even in life after cricket. It is just for us to continue to stick together as a nation, forget all the petty talk and stuff and just try to focus on making Trinidad and Tobago a better place.
“For me as a sportsman I just want to continue and represent the country and do great things for Trinidad and Tobago and for the young youths coming up to try and follow in my footsteps or even whether it is a Keshorn Walcott or Machel Montano or whichever role model you have or someone whoever you look up to, just try to emulate someone and be on the positive side of life and to make the country proud,” Bravo said.
Bravo said he does not feel pressured by the award as he is a “very humble” and “very chill person”.
“For me it is not really what I want to achieve but I just want to be an ambassador for my country and to do the right things, set an example for others to follow just as my role model did before Brian Lara, he is someone who I look up to and you know he achieved great things as well and he is a very close friend to me and I just want to pave the way for others to follow as well and just continue to do the right things.
“I have kids coming up and I just want to set a great example for my children and for my nieces and nephews and for all my teammates, as I mentioned before my success is because of my teammates and they have to get some credit as well,” Bravo said.

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Sebastian Coe has appointed Sergey Bubka, the man he defeated to become the new President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), as the world governing body's senior vice-president.

The decision to promote Ukraine's former world pole vault record holder was approved by the IAAF's ruling Council after Coe officially took over from Senegal's Lamine Diack at the end of the World Championships in Beijing, which finished yesterday.

Bubka, the 1988 Olympic gold medallist, who had returned home to Ukraine before the Championships started due to a family illness, was chosen ahead of the other newly-elected IAAF vice-presidents, Cameroon's Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, Cuba's Alberto Juantorena and Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad, after earning 187 votes, the most of all the candidates.

Bubka tweeted his gratitude to Coe: "thanks @iaaforg Council & @sebcoe for honour to appoint me as Senior Vice President. Happy to continue to serve #athletics".

The Briton, who beat Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in the election held on the eve of the Championships in the Chinese capital, also announced a number of initiatives.

The most eye-catching of these is the establishment of a working group to look into the possibility of establishing a new over-arching integrity unit for athletics which would house an anti-doping operation with greater independence and have access to a newly formed independent tribunal to hear doping cases of international-level athletes and support personnel.

Establishing an independent anti-doping unit was a key pledge in Coe's election manifesto.

The double Olympic 1500 metres gold medallist has also created a new Member Federations Relations team to ensure national governing bodies are involved in helping shape the future of the sport.

Work has also began on a review of the IAAF Commissions and working groups.

"I am very excited and proud to have been given an opportunity to lead our great sport into the new era that lies ahead," said Coe, the former chairman of London 2012.

"Beijing has been a wonderful edition of the IAAF World Championships.

"The Stadium has been full over nine days, morning and evening, with an energetic and enthusiastic crowd who have been enthralled by the world’s greatest athletes.

"Athletics has been at the centre of my life since I was a young boy.

"Everything I am today can be credited to my experiences and successes in this sport and my mission now is to enhance the sport’s ability to inspire and entertain.

"Athletics is about sporting performance and success but also about values which have the strongest ethical foundations.

"With the support of my Council colleagues, I am determined to ensure that athletics remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.

"We will continue to put the interest of athletics first and retain the level of independence necessary to help us do the right thing for our sport.

"Our approach will be a simple one: to ensure that the IAAF works in the service of the Member Federations and the athletes.

"And I am determined to get out of the starting blocks quickly, so today we begin a detailed review of our existing management structures and use of resources to ensure that within the next 100 days, IAAF Council can approve new systems and teams which are necessary for delivering our ambitious plans."

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Rainbow Sports and Cultural Club (RSCC) in collaboration with communication provider Flow Trinidad, officially launched their second annual Flow South/ Central Youth Rugby Tournament at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, on Saturday.

This developmental joint venture will see five newly formed rugby teams from rural areas throughout the south land do battle against each other and hosts RSSC, for top honours.

However, capturing the 2015 title is a secondary target for this tourney, since club president Rudolph Jack and main sponsors Flow, are primarily focused on using this programme as a platform for both the promotion of rugby and young people in the southern community.

The tournament will feature beginner teams from Guapo, Basseterre, Sixth Company Moruga, Mafeking and Sobo, along with RSCC, battling on the field until the October 3 grand finale. This initiative is the brainchild of Jack, who was only able to achieve his dream of introducing the sport into rural communities, when Flow came on board and assisted in setting up Rugby Caravans last year. In 2014, both organisations took their training camps to Guapo, Basseterre and Sixth Company, where they trained members of these communities for three months, and then set up village teams.

In doing so, RSCC and Flow opted to expand their plans this year and sought to infiltrate even deeper south Trinidad by heading to Makefing and Sobo.

According to club public relations officer, Paul Scott, both institutions have been using this idea to cross several barriers within the rural communities by setting up these caravans.

“Last year was our first year with the Rugby Caravans and to date, they have been reaping rewards for the young people of Trinidad and Tobago,” said Scott yesterday. “What we usually do is go into villages for approximately half day and play several exhibition games. At the end of it, the young people that are interested, we register them and go back into the communities every week for three months and train them.” Rainbow Sports is one of the top-ranked local rugby clubs in TT and is considered the best competitive unit in south. Their partnership with Flow thus far has even seen three youngsters from Sixth Company be selected to train with the National Under-19 outfit in recent times.

Even though these young men did not make the final cut for team selection, Scott was pleased to highlight the great progress and determination shown by the youngsters.

“After the Youth League is finished, the players in the community that show potential, we intend to register some of them under Rainbow Sports to play in the National League. We are exposing them and the more competition they get the better.” Rainbow is hoping to register another Under-18 team to play in the National League and this unit will comprise mostly of players from the five rural communities.

According to Scott, 90 percent of the rugby clubs hail from within the East/West corridor with Rainbow being the only official ‘village’ team in TT . All of RSCC’s players hail from Trainline, Marabella, and administrators of this club saw it fit to seek out the hidden talents tucked away in rural communities.

“We want to increase the sport’s popularity in south and central,” Scott continued. “Flow was looking for a sport that was not too popular and when they saw Rainbow’s work on the Trainline, they were impressed. We went into some rough neighbourhoods to introduce it as an alternative sport. But it’s really a platform to interact with young people. This initiative has always been Rudolph’s vision to spread rugby to the south but we never really had the finances. With Flow coming on board and with the Caravans, they’ve helped us a lot and we will continue such endeavours as long as we have the funding.”

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Less than 24 hours after their historic third-place finish in Saturday's IAAF World Championship women's 4x100 metres final, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Reyare Thomas and Semoy Hackett returned to the Bird's Nest Stadium here in Beijing, China, yesterday, to receive their bronze medals.

Baptiste, who ran the leadoff leg for Trinidad and Tobago, told the Express that the medal ceremony was a very special occasion.

“It felt good to see our flag being raised, and knowing that it was our efforts that got it there. When you have those experiences, it drives you more to push yourself and be a better athlete, and to keep on having those types of occurrences at every championship.”

For Ahye, the T&T second leg runner, it was an emotional experience.

“Once I saw the flag going up, it kind of brought a tear to my eye. I kind of held it in, but I felt really proud to be out there.”

Third leg runner Thomas concurred.

“It felt great to know we were able to get a bronze medal and make Trinidad and Tobago proud.”

Anchorwoman Hackett gave her impressions of the medal ceremony.

“We were happy and a bit emotional,” she told the Express, “because of the struggle we have had in the relay, and individually as athletes. To actually get it done on the major stage was overwhelming. I felt proud of all of us. We went out as a team and we got the job done as a team. We achieved everything as a team.”

While Khalifa St Fort was not on the podium, yesterday, she contributed as well to World Championship bronze, the 17-year-old anchoring the team to second spot in their qualifying heat.

St Fort hopes to be part of future medal ceremonies. On this occasion, she recorded the moment.

“It felt great,” said the bubbly teenager. “I loved watching them. It was so exciting to see the Trinidad and Tobago flag go up, and they looked so happy. I took so many pictures. I'm so proud of them.”

The flags of the medal-winning countries are raised at all medal ceremonies. This time, IAAF World Championship women's 4x1 gold went to Jamaica, with United States getting silver and T&T bronze. Only one anthem, however, is played, and the requirement is gold. Yesterday, the honour went to Jamaica.

Baptiste said she is looking forward to the day “Forged from the Love of Liberty” is played during a women's 4x100m medal ceremony at a major senior global meet.

“That could happen very soon,” the 2011 World Championship 100m bronze medallist declared, “very very soon. Especially for the other girls, since it's their first time actually being on that podium, I know it's extra motivation for them to train hard and to compete with the best of the best in the world.”

Hackett is already looking forward to T&T's Olympic medal bid.

“Hopefully, next year we can go on and be stronger and better for Rio 2016.”

Quadruple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon is now coaching, and has been a key figure in the preparation of the women's 4x100m team here in Beijing.

T&T manager Dexter Voisin has also played an important role on the journey.

“I have been around this team from since 2005,” Voisin told the Express, “and I think I qualify to give a comment on what I think went well with regards to this 4x1.

“In the past, the women, just as the men, we always tried for them to understand the importance of relays. In these major championships, even when the men were disappointing in their individual events, somehow or the other we were able to pull out some medals in the relays.

“This time around,” he continued, “the women, they understood their potential, understood how they stood coming into this championship with regard to the relay. I remember in one of the team meetings I made them understand that they need to see the relay differently in comparison to how they looked at it in the past.”

Voisin said evidence of the new relay attitude was on display after Hackett and Thomas exited the 200m event at the semi-final stage.

“The following day,” said the manager, “they were out on the track going through the paces with the batons. In the past they would take a day-off and then come the following day. But they saw where they needed to go out there and work on the baton passing. They recognised the baton passing was the problem over the years, and they understood what needed to be done at these Championships.”

Yesterday, T&T's best female sprinters enjoyed the fruit of their labour—World Championship bronze medals as a reward for Saturday's 42.03 seconds national record run.

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