...Sancho’s intervention saves day for footballers

‘Clash of Queens’ fund-raiser delivers

The clash between the ?Calypso Girls? and the ?Women Warriors? exceeded expectations yesterday at the Jean Pierre Complex. The charity event, dubbed "Clash of the Queens", was an attempt to raise funds for the Trinidad and Tobago netball team, who will be embarking upon their World Cup adventure next month in Sydney, Australia, from the 7-16.

The national senior netballers have been busy in the build-up for the World Cup, which they qualified for after they won the 2014 AFNA Championships in Canada. In Australia, they will face the hosts, who are ten-time world champions, as well as New Zealand, who have won the World Championships on four occasions. They are the top-two ranked teams in the world at the moment. T&T's other opponent in that group will be Barbados. Where the match was concerned, the footballers, whose attack was led by none other than their inspirational captain Maylee Attin-Johnson, made a gamely attempt at posing a challenge to their more experienced opponents. It wasn't enough to stop the Calypso Girls from storming to a 58-9 blowout at the final buzzer. There was a good crowd in the Complex as there was a sizeable turnout to support the women's cause.

According to Ian Haywood, co-ordinator with A-Class Group of Companies, the concept was to bring awareness to the plight of the athletes of the two teams, and also for corporate Trinidad and Tobago to offer sponsorship separate from the auspices of the Ministry of Sport.

The funds allocated from the event yesterday was split 50/50 between the two teams. The Calypso Girls will be using their share to facilitate their World Cup endeavours, while the Women Warriors will utilise their funds to help prepare adequately with less need for subventions.

?The fundraiser was both the idea of Maylee Attin-Johnson and vice-captain Ayanna Russell in order to engage women national players across the board,? he said. ?We will have a ?round two' with the football after.?

The A-Class group is also planning to arrange a return leg in the same event after the Netball World Cup, where the Netballers will take on the Warriors in a football match at a venue yet to be determined. ?The next game, we expect to have more people and more hype, and it will also be split equally between the two teams,? Haywood said.

The event has the potential to be the springboard for something better where local women's sports are concerned, particularly netball. ?There are brighter days ahead,? said national netball skipper Joelisa Cooper. ?This event can show people that despite not being where we were in 1979, we can return to those glory days with proper development,? said Cooper.

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In search of an increase in financial assistance towards the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee’s Athlete and Welfare Preparation Fund, president of the local Olympic fraternity, Brian Lewis, unveiled a landmark joint venture with the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) to aid the growth of this initiative.

At Olympic House on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Lewis, NLCB chairman of marketing Brian Sawh and Instant Money Game supervisor, Candi West, disclosed their historic project which aims at generating approximately $1million per year towards the Athlete Fund and boosting the TTOC’s aim of achieving ten gold medals or more by 2024.

Together, the trio launched ‘Going for Gold’, a brand new NLCB sanctioned scratch game which will raise funds for Trinidad and Tobago’s potential Olympians. On Monday, 500,000 scratch tickets carrying the logo #10Golds24 will be on sale to the public for $10 at approximately 800 NLCB registered outlets nationwide. With a grand prize of $100,000, buyers of these tickets will be directly investing into the Athlete Preparation Fund. There are multiple other prizes customers can win in this scratch game and organisers have stated that chances are estimated at one-in-four. The first tranche of tickets is expected to run over a three-month period and will be renewed upon completion. This is a bold step in realising Lewis’ dream, having launched the #10Golds24 in December last year and then taking part in the Trinidad and Tobago International Marathon in January 2015.

On this historic drive, Lewis explained, “The importance of continuing and trying different initiatives is very important given the determination to create the environment that will allow our athletes to achieve their goals and objectives. We want to cultivate a system of excellence which clarifies the development pathway.”

The NLCB and TTOC anticipate that the ‘Going for Gold’ game, which was designed by GTECH, will be instrumental in raising public awareness and stimulating further national support of the athletes’ cause.

Camille Forde, director of the NLCB, was enthusiastic about the game’s potential to augment the impact of #10Golds24. “It is our hope that the interactive element of “Going for Gold” will stimulate renewed interest and care for Trinidad and Tobago’s athletes,” she said. “The NLCB is passionate about supporting the achievement of our talented young people, and “Going for Gold” can play a significant role in helping our game-buyers feel invested in our Olympic dream.”

“With this idea, we are getting the public more directly involved in paving the future of our Olympians,” added Lewis. “We have had the Fund open since last year and have not attained what we have projected for thus far. This is why we must adopt and implement new ideas with a positive mind-set.”

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Rio 2016 today revealed its design for the Olympic Torch and the route for the Torch Relay, 399 days before the Opening Ceremony is due to take place.

The unique design of the Torch incorporates “Brazilian flair,” officials claimed.

It aims to reflect the unprecedented meeting between the legendary Olympic flame and the human warmth of the Brazilian people, they said.

The Torch’s texture has triangles running the length of its body, alluding to the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, and the floating effect of its different segments refers to the efforts of the athletes.

One of its main innovations is the movement of these segments, which open up and expand vertically when the Olympic Flame is passed from one torchbearer to another.

Upon expanding, the segments reveal the elements that add the Brazilian flavour: diversity, contagious energy and exuberant nature, with the soil, the sea, the mountains, the sky and the sun represented in the colours of the Brazilian flag, which are also present in the visual identity of Rio 2016.

“The design of the Rio 2016 Torch was inspired by the Olympic spirit, our country’s nature, and the harmonious diversity and energy of our people," said Beth Lula, the Rio 2016 brand director.

"We used the specific stroke of the Rio 2016 brand to design the torch’s contours. Its horizontal segments, once open, reveal the sky, mountains, sea and the ground, represented by the promenade of Copacabana.”
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The design was the result of a nationwide competitive tender that 76 agencies responded to and that concluded with the meeting of a multidisciplinary judging panel, formed by 11 members recognised for their expertise in product design or their contribution to the Olympic Movement.

The panel unanimously selected the São Paulo-based design studio Chelles & Hayashi, established 21 years ago by Gustavo Chelles and Romy Hayashi.

After having been selected, the winning design was refined in collaboration with Rio 2016.

“The day is coming when we will have the honour of being the first country in South America to host the biggest sporting event on the planet," said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

"In 399 days, people from across the world will look at us and see the Olympic flame lit in Rio.

"We are confident that we are going to meet, to the highest level, this great challenge that we have taken on.

"The Olympic torch is truly beautiful and fantastic.

"It will travel around Brazil and will be carried by the men and women of our people. It will stay in various municipalities and will cross the nation from north to south and east to west. It will be a great work of cooperation.”


The Torch Relay will begin with the traditional Flame Lighting Ceremony in Olympia, Greece, where the Ancient Olympic Games were born.

Then the torch will begin its tour of Brazil in May 2016.

Starting in the capital city of Brasilia and passing through an expected 500 cities and towns, with 300 of them due to host the Olympic Torch itself, the route was designed to reach as much of the Brazilian population as possible – an estimated 90 per cent of the public, it is claimed.

It will be carried by 12,000 people.

The torch will travel 20,000 kilometres by road and another 10,000 miles by air over the North and Midwest parts of the country, between the cities of Teresina and Campo Grande, without the Flame ever going out.

"We want to show the world the chemistry that we believe will be born when the Olympic Flame meets the warmth of the Brazilian people," said Carlos Nuzman, President of Rio 2016.

Each Torch – crafted from recycled aluminium and resin with a satin finish – will weigh between one kilogram and 1.5kg and stands 63.5 centimetres high when contracted and 69cm when expanded.

Lightweight materials and a design that induces a grip closer to the Torch’s centre of gravity have been employed to make the experience the best it can be.

The Torch Relay is due to end on August 5, when it will light the Olympic Cauldron at Maracana Stadium during the Opening Ceremony.
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The Relay will last between 90 and 100 days, allowing for technical breaks or special photo events.

“Rio de Janeiro is working very hard to host the Games, but these are all of Brazil’s Games and the whole population will take part," said Nuzman.

"The most important things is that each person who takes part in the torch relay can leave for their city a strong message of union.”

The Relay will be presented by International Olympic Committee TOP partner Coca-Cola and Rio 2016 sponsors Nissan and Bradesco.

A special website for the Torch Relay has been set-up and can be seen by clicking here.

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Trinidad and Tobago’s 4x100 metres relay team have officially had their London 2012 bronze medal upgraded to silver following American sprinter Tyson Gay’s one-year ban for testing positive for anabolic steroids.

But team-member Richard Thompson claimed there are “flaws in the system” when it comes to doping in the sport.

The United States team had clinched the second place on the podium behind Jamaica but Gay’s ban meant all his results be annulled, including the 4x100 relay at the Olympic Games three years ago.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped them of their silver medal seven weeks ago, leading to Trinidad and Tobago, whose quartet was made up of Thompson, Keston Bledman, Marc Burns and Emmanuel Callender, to be upgraded.

Despite originally finishing fifth, France have been reallocated the bronze.

The news comes after Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) President Brian Lewis criticised the IOC for its lack of urgency in the redistribution of medals stripped from athletes and teams for doping offences, claiming the process is “long and drawn out”.

“I would like the IOC to review the process and ensure its fair to the clean athletes,” he told insidethegames.

The development represents a second upgrade for the Trinidad and Tobago team, whose time of 38.12sec saw them narrowly miss out on a medal in the event but they were awarded bronze after Canada were disqualified for a lane violation.

“This is bitter-sweet,” Thompson told The Express in Port of Spain.

“We live for a moment and not necessarily a monetary award.

“We work hard to cross the line, hold up the national flag, stand on the podium and be happy in that moment we worked so hard for.

“We were deprived of that opportunity.

“If the system was 100 per cent efficient Gay would have gotten a two-year ban, and Justin Gatlin would not be running anymore.

“There are flaws in the system, and Gay should not have been rewarded for cooperating.

“He should do that anyway and Gatlin failed two tests, and should have been banned for life.”

Lewis said in a statement that they had “received official confirmation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the London 2012 men’s 4x100 sprint relay team will be reallocated the silver medal”.

Lewis also revealed that they have until July 18 to return their bronzes in order to receive their new silver medals.

"The TTOC will work with the athletes to ensure the IOC deadline is met," he added.

When asked about the process of the retrospective awarding last month, IOC communications director Mark Adams said that he thought no action would occur until the medals have been physically returned by the US athletes.

It is still not known whether the American team has given their medals back to the IOC.

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