Olympic medallist Lalonde Gordon now has a trust in his name.

While some athletes get a statue in honour of their accomplishments and others have their name assigned to a plane or stadia, the London 2012 Olympic achiever is to be lauded by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) with the activation of the Lalonde Gordon Fund.

Huey Cadette, secretary for Sport, Education and Youth Affairs confirmed this yesterday.

He explained that while the fund was created two years ago, it was not yet launched and neither had it being operationalised. A board to oversee the fund had been appointed.

Cadette expressed the hope that the fund would become operational in fiscal 2015 with an initial contribution of $1 million from the THA.

Gordon successfully medalled at the London 2012 Olympics in his pet events—the 400m and the 4x400 relay—where he secured bronze medals for T&T.

Through the creation of this fund, the THA hoped to assist athletes and administrators alike in their personal development goals.

The establishment of the fund, however, was being done in isolation, said the secretary.

The fund, he said, would form part of the Assembly’s Tobago Sport Policy, which is still being drafted, and aimed to set a clear mandate in relation to structures and procedures through which elite athletes accessed funding.

“Recognising Lalonde Gordon’s effort and his success at the London 2012 Olympics, the THA would have established a fund where money would be allocated both by the THA and corporate T&T. This fund, of course would be managed by representatives of civil society and of course the Assembly. The role of this fund would be to seek applications from persons whether administrators, athletes, organisations who requires support for programmes related to sport, whether it is training or administrative courses,” said Cadette.

He added: “That is essentially what the fund is created for and we look forward to allowing our athletes to thrive because of the input coming from both the Assembly and corporate T&T. We want to ensure that whether you are playing tennis, table tennis, golf, basketball or football that we can find ways to provide support for our athletes. So yes, there will be some distinct differences in our policy and the national one (by the Ministry of Sport). But overall, our policy will seek to compliment what happens at the national level.”

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T&T Cycling Federation (TTCF) president Rowena Williams stated the Federation has steps in place for national cyclists to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, dismissing claims by national cyclist Njisane Phillip.

It was reported in a daily newspapers (not the Guardian) on Sunday that Phillip was unhappy with the TTCF in helping T&T cyclists earn UCI (International Cycling Union) points to qualify for the UCI World Cup Series and the Olympic Games in 2016.

Phillip was quoted on Facebook as saying: “TTCF didn’t put anything in place for riders to qualify for world cups this year, we don’t even get UCI points for our national championships? Why? The rest of the world does.”

In a phone interview yesterday with Williams, the TTCF president said plans are in place for cyclists to earn UCI points at T&T’s national cycling championships. “Currently the country has plans in place for cyclists in our national championships to get UCI points from next year, he (Phillip) is probably not aware of that.”

Phillip added: “We barely even made it to the World Cup, if was not for my last minute trip to Czech Republic which yall (TTCF) didn’t pay for. I mean tell me our plan for this next Olympics team? Do you all even have one, or the athletes have to figure it out again like 2010-2012? You all just worried about election coming up.”

Williams responded by saying: “The Federation has been ensuring they (cyclists) get funding, we have been funding cyclists for events, I am not sure what his beef is.” Williams said that after funding is given to the riders it is then up to the cyclists to earn enough UCI points to qualify for the Olympic Games.

T&T was represented by Jude Codrington, Quincy Alexander and Kwesi Browne at the first leg of the World Cup earlier this month in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Phillip is not currently with the national cycling team at the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in Mexico, but is expected to represent T&T at the second leg of the UCI Cycling World Cup in London, England, from December 5-7.

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Monday 17th November 2014, Trinidad and Tobago’s 3rd day of competition had 8 sporting disciplines, the most events for the country in this year’s CAC Games, with 30 scheduled events of which 3 were postponed due the weather conditions.

Table Tennis:

In Table tennis singles, T&T had six athletes each playing 2 matches in Men’s/Women’s groups of three opponents. Rheann Chung in group 5 was the first to defeat her opponents from Dominican Republic’s Karla Brito and Guatemala’s Andrea Montufar 3-0 each. Ashley Quashie wasn’t so successful, losing to Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz 3-0 and withdrawing against Barbados’s Angela Reid in group 9. Past CAC medalist Dexter St. Louis recovered from a 3-0 loss to Cuba’s Jorge to defeat Erick Aviles of El Salvador 3-1 in group 3. Catherine Spicer was unfortunate to capitalize on her impressive forehand attacks, falling short of her Venezuelan opponent Wimberly Montero in the second, third and fourth sets, losing 3-1 in group 9. 16 year old Aaron Wilson came from behind to defeat his much older 44 year old Jamaican opponent Michael Hyatt 3-2 but was over powered by the dominant Yohan Mora of Cuba in his second match in group 8. Finally Curtis Humphery got T&T’s second flawless scores, defeating Guatemala’s Hector Gatica and Honduras’s Miguel Sarmiento in group 12.

Shooting:

Roger Daniel grabbed T&T's first medal, winning bronze (175.8) in the Men’s Individual 10m Air Pistol at the El Lencero Police Academy in Xalapa. The 2010’s Gold medalist was hoping to once again grab the top spot but had to settle behind Cuba’s Jorge Grau (201.2) and Maurilio Morales (196.8) of Mexico. Rhodney Allen placed 22nd in the qualifying round with 545pts and first time CAC contestant Clement Marshall 31st 527 points.

Kayak:

Satyam Maharaj faced cold temperatures, rain and 20+ knots gust winds, while officials made a mandatory change to protocol from ‘Immediate Rescue' to 'Rescue' without disrupting the competition in the Men’s K1 200m Kayak Final placing 7th in a time of one minute. Cuba (40.7) took home gold, Venezuela (45.8) Silver and Mexico (46.7) Bronze. Women’s K1 200m T&T finalist Keian Huggins finished 6th in 1 minute 11 seconds. Cuba (51.4) Columbia (55.1) and Mexico (55.3) taking home the medals in that order. The team of Sherlon Pierre and Matthew Robinson finished 7th in the Men’s K2 200m Finals in a time of 52 seconds. Cuba (35.9) Venezuela (37.2) and Mexico (37.34) won Gold Silver and Bronze respectfully. The placings may earn T&T a spot in next year’s Panama Games, but still need to be confirmed.

Swimming:

Two of the Three McLeod brothers representing T&T had their finals carded for the evening; however it was postponed due to bad weather. They were able to swim in the qualifiers in the morning. David McLeod placed fourth in heat 2 of the Men’s 100m backstroke in 59.29, while older sibling Joshua placed 3rd in 24.47 behind Venezuela (24.18) and Surinam (24.4).

Hockey:

Women’s Hockey match against Guyana was postponed as the weather conditions made play hazardous.

Football:

Reported 60mph winds played a familiar factor in T&T’s 1-1 draw against Haiti, overcoming several other challenges including many of the team members playing together for the first time and arriving to Mexico on the morning of kick off, T&T drew level in the 51st minute through Patrice Campbell after Haiti’s Roselord Borgella put the Haitians ahead midway in the first half. T&T face host country Mexico next on Wednesday at 3pm, followed by Columbia on Friday, 10am.

Volleyball:

Women’s Indoor Volleyball Team lost their 3rd in as many games to Costa Rica 25-19, 25-19, and 25-14. T&T await for the scheduling of their next opponent in the Placement 5-8 (match 16) on Wednesday 19th.

Cycling:

Finally, T&T Men’s Team Sprint indoor Cycling of Kwesi Browne, Quincy Alexander and Jude Cordrington, narrowly missed out for the medaling race placing 5th in a time of 45.95 seconds, behind 4th place Cuba’s 45.65. Venezuela and Columbia, the fastest 2 teams of the qualifiers race for gold Nov 17th while the 3rd and 4th teams race for bronze the same day.

Women footballers in 1-1 draw with Haiti

RHEANN Chung made an impressive start in her bid to earn precious metal at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Veracruz, Mexico, when she notched up two consecutive victories as singles action in the table tennis competition served off at the Omega Complex, yesterday.
Chung faced the Dominican Republic’s Karla Britto in her first match and won in straight sets 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, before returning to dispose of Andrea Montufar of Guatemala, also in straight sets, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6. Her teammates Ashely Quashie and Catherine Spicer did not fare as well as Quashie suffered a straight set loss to Melanie Diaz of Puerto Rico, 5-11, 5-11, 2-11 and Spicer went under by a 1-3 margin to Venezuela’s Wimberly Montero, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 9-11.
In the men’s draw, Dexter St Louis was beaten 5-11, 6-11, 7-11, by Cuba’s Jorge Campo in his first match. But he would use his experience to rebound well in defeating 18-year-old Erick Aviles of El Salvador, three sets to one, 6-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-1, to stay in the hunt.
Aaron Wilson drew Michael Hyatt of Jamaica and he won 3-2 (7-11;4-11;11-5; 11-9; 11-7), while Curtis Humphreys was waiting to play his first match against Guatemala’s Hector Gatica. First round action in the men’s and women’s doubles competition serves off today at 10.00 a.m.
Trinidad and Tobago’s national women’s football team opened its Group A campaign with a 1-1 draw against Haiti at the Hugo Sanchez Sport Complex. Fielding a team that saw several players who participated in the World Cup qualifying campaign being rested,
T&T would fall behind when Haitian defender Roselord Borgella beat goalkeeper Tinesha Palmer in the 27th minute. However, midfielder Patrice Campbell would find the back of the net in the 51st minute of play to ensure T&T took a share of the spoils.
Across in the pool, David Mcleod finished fourth in heat 2 of the men’s 100m backstroke in 59.12 seconds. Venezuela’s Albert Subirats topped the field in 57.14 with his countryman Robinson Molina second in 57.86 and Armando Barrera of Cuba, third in 57.93. Joshua McLeod fared a little better in finishing third in heat 3 of the men’s 50m butterfly in 24.47 seconds.
And in canoe competition, Satyam Maharaj was seventh in the men’s K1 200m final in a time of one minute, 00:99 seconds. Gold was won by Cuba’s Fidel Vargas in 40.658 with Antonoi Oropeza of Venezuela capturing silver in 45.790 and Mexico’s Santos Marroquin Uribe, bronze in 46.748.
Up to press time, T&T’s trio of Quincy Alexander, Jude Codrington and Kwesi Browne were set ride off against Edgar Verdugo, Reuben Horta and Roberto Serrano of Mexico in men’s team sprint cycling action at the Xalapa Velodrome.
And the national women’s hockey team had their previously scheduled 1 p.m. match delayed.

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