A number of national athletes who participated at the recently concluded Carifta Games, including Tobago’s Akanni Hislop, are expected to feature at the National Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Championship, which starts today at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.

It is set to run off at 9 am, both today and tomorrow, the closing day.

The event is being hosted by the Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Association, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT).

Over 400 athletes from eight zones are expected to convene, with the athletes vying for individual accolades as well as glory for their respective districts.

Hislop and Tobago will be seeking to take home the title for the 25th time. Hislop was a standout at the Carifta Games in St Kitts, earning three medals, gold in the Boys’ Under-18 200m, silver in the 100m and another silver with the Boys’ U-18 4x100m relay team that finished second to Jamaica.

Tobago’s athletes will sport the colour green, while last year’s runner-up, North Eastern, will wear gold/purple. Port-of-Spain, the 2014 third-placed finisher wears light blue. The other zones are Victoria (red), South Eastern (yellow/black), St Patrick (royal blue), Caroni (maroon) and St George (orange).

Also carded to feature are Tobago’s standout field athletes, Tyrik Horsford and Andwuelle Wright. Horsford recently brough home the Carifta javelin gold in the Boys’ U-18 (700g) with a 70.83m throw, for a Carifta record in the division, while Wright saw success in the Boys’ U-20 long jump with a 7.44m (+2.1m/s) leap.

This year’s championship will close tomorrow after an intense series of finals.

Kwame Laurence repeated as the table tennis singles silver medallist at the 2nd AIPS America Games, in Manaus, Brazil, on Tuesday.

Laurence did not drop a game en route to the final. And in the championship match, the Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) employee won the first two games against the 2013 champion, Colombian Hernando Suarez, but then lost the next three.

Laurence is representing One Caribbean Media (OCM) and Trinidad and Tobago at the AIPS America Games.

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Recently, in keeping with this commitment the national governing body sent Brazilian volleyball coach Agustini Sabatini and Sean Morrison volleyball coach at the Ministry of Sport to Tobago to support Tobago's Head of Volleyball Mr. Nolan Daniel with the development of the sport.

Tobago House of Assembly(THA) Secretary of Education, Youth Affairs and Sport, Assemblyman Huey Cadette and Mr. Theophilus Trim Director of Sport in Tobago have been in regular communication with Mr. Daymian Stewart, President of the TTVF as both the THA and the TTVF seek to implement plans for  the growth and development of volleyball  throughout the sister isle.

The TTVF, with the aid of the world governing body FIVB, the  North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) and the Ministry of Sport, assigned both Sabatini and Morrison to conduct a one month coaching project in Tobago. They  along with Daniel,  visited several Primary and Secondary Schools in Tobago to introduce Indoor and Outdoor Volleyball . 

A total of fifteen schools have been targeted including Spey Side High, Scarborough, Signal Hill Secondary, Buccoo Primary, Black Rock Primary, St. Patrick Primary to name just a few .
The three coaches also inaugurated a Beach Volleyball Community program at Turtle Beach with twenty-five male and female students per school.
According to Morrison, the children and teenagers were all excited and happy to learn the sport. " Tobago has a lot of raw talent. I can already envision some of these youngsters competing at the international level" said Morrison.
He added that, "there is definitely a great need for more coaches to help develop and raise the level of the sport in Tobago".  
TTVF President Daymian Stewart confirmed that sustainably developing indoor and beach volleyball in Tobago is a key strategic priority for the TTVF. 
" We will establish in Tobago a structured coaching development and player development pathway . My intention is to have the TTVF work closely with the THA to ensure that volleyball in Tobago achieves its full potential ."

 

Rheeza Grant

Executive Assistant,

Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation

Eric Cantona says Manchester United's derby win over Manchester City proves they are capable of winning the Premier League title next season.

United beat City 4-2 at Old Trafford on Sunday to consolidate their third place in the Premier League table.

"Now they are the kings of the city," said Cantona, who won four titles for United between 1992 and 1997.

"Sometimes you have a season when you lose games and you finish fourth or fifth. Next year they can win."

Despite going behind to an early Sergio Aguero goal, United came back strongly with goals from Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling before Aguero added a late consolation.

The first home derby victory since 2011 put them four points ahead of City and firmly on course for a return to the Champions League next season.

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Multiple Olympic champion Usain Bolt has made "significant strides" as he bids to defend his world titles this season, and is unconcerned about the challenge of sprinter Justin Gatlin.

American Gatlin dominated last year's Diamond League, running 9.77 seconds and 19.68 secs in the 100m and 200m.

Coach Glen Mills said Bolt had stepped up his preparations since running 46.37 seconds over 400m in Kingston in March.

"Usain's made significant strides since the last time you saw him," he said.

Gatlin, 33, won 100m Olympic gold in 2004 and World Championship gold in 2005.

"We take all competitors with a level of seriousness," added Mills. "But the truth of the matter is Usain at his best doesn't have much to worry about."

Bolt, 28, ran only three races last year. He is next due to run in a 100m race at an athletics meet in Rio on 19 April, and will follow that by representing Jamaica in the World Relay Championships in Bahamas on 2 and 3 May.

"I want to run really fast this season so I'm working on it," he said.

"I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm doing a lot of work leading up to this first run in Brazil [in April] - that's the focus and that's what we're working towards."

Bolt will bid for a third 100m gold and a fourth 200m gold in succession at August's World Championships in Beijing.

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Sergey Bubka has launched his manifesto for election to the International Association of Athletics Federations presidency, pledging to provide the most thorough athletics review ever.

Six-time world champion pole vaulter Bubka, 51, will run against Sebastian Coe to succeed Lamine Diack in August.

The Ukrainian has proposed holding more athletics events in public spaces.

"We have an opportunity to go closer to the public. This can be on squares, in streets, in shopping malls," he said.

"I remember competing in these types of competitions when I was an athlete and they are very attractive."

The proposed examination of "every significant element of our sport" would focus mainly on restructuring the global events calendar and the federations' rules and by-laws.

Bubka also said that he was pleased with how the World Anti-Doping Agency had approached claims of widespread drug use among Russian athletes.

But he added: "Cheaters will be punished. And we must protect and highlight clean athletes. We need to study how we can legally strengthen sanctions - it will need a very deep study."

Other aspects of Bubka's manifesto include:

  • using more technology, such as biometric chips and cameras
  • a focus on youth and creating more school-level competitions
  • creating a position of IAAF chief executive officer to help share the workload of the general secretary
  • promoting mixed gender competitions


Lord Coe, 58, who oversaw London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics, has also made the athletics calendar, youth engagement, anti-doping and public competitions central to his bid for the presidency.

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