National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA) president Ephraime Serrette was on hand to witness Kelly-Ann Baptiste race to bronze in the Women’s 100 metres finals on Monday. Serrette, along with 1976 Olympic champion Hasely Crawford, travelled to Daegu as part of the T&T delegation. He was indeed proud of Baptiste’s achievement, saying, “I thought it was a very good performance. I thought she was second. I did not see the Jamaican (Veronica Campbell-Brown) out in lane eight. She was running well all season. It showed that she was ready to compete with the best in the world. We are all now looking forward to the Olympics in 2012.”

The NAAA boss added that the 24-year-old’s success will inspire the female athletes in T&T to excel.
“In the last World Championships we had all three of our female sprinters advance to the semifinal round. This year we had three again with Semoy (Hackett) just missing out of a final spot.” He added that he had anticipated more medals from the team by now. “By now we were hoping to have our second medal. We now look forward to the women’s and men’s 4x100 and the men’s 4x400 relay.” Yesterday, T&T athletes got a day off from competition. Today, though, T&T quartermiler Renny Quow will lead T&T Men’s 4x400m relay team into action. The quartet is set to run in the first of two heats which will see defending champion USA and regional powerhouse Jamaica.

He failed to advance out of the semifinal round in the Men’s 400m, finishing fourth in his heat in a time of 45.72. Quow is expected to team up with Zwede Hewitt, Jehue Gordon and Deon Lendore and is aiming for a top three spot to automatically qualify for the final tomorrow. Kai Selvon will be the first back in action when she runs in the heats of the Women’s 200m. Selvon will run out of lane four in heat four. Her competitors include American champion Shalonda Solomon and Bahamas’ Antonique Strachan and Miraya Ryemyen of Ukraine. The top four will advance to the semifinals set for tomorrow. Selvon qualifed for Daegu after clocking a personal best of 22.97 in taking silver at the Pan American Junior Championships in Florida, USA on July 23.

-Clayton Clarke

Source: www.guardian.co.tt