The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the Cuban Olympic Committee (COC) have signed a partnership agreement here which will see the two organisations share resources to help the development of athletes and coaches ahead of Rio 2016.

The historic deal also aims to promote cooperation globally in the fight against doping in sport.

It was signed by AOC President John Coates and COC secretary general Ruperto Herrera Tabio, who are both here attending the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly, which officially opened today.

The agreement will initially run for a four-year term.

Under the partnership, they will share information on sports science and sports medicine as well as the construction of new facilities.

The AOC and COC will also establish a platform for the exchange of academic expertise in a bid to raise the sporting level of both countries.

“This agreement will help both Australian and Cuban athletes and coaches as they strive for success on the world’s greatest sporting stage, the Olympic Games,” Coates said.

“Australia has been at the forefront of the fight to eradicate the use of banned substances in sport and will be looking to further bolster this commitment with the Cuban Olympic Committee.”

As well as partnering for next year’s Olympics and Paralympics in the Brazilian city, the two National Olympic Committees will also work closely together in the build-up to Tokyo 2020.

Cuba enjoyed their most successful appearance at an Olympic Games when Sydney played host to the event in 2000, taking home a haul of 29 medals, including 11 golds.

At London 2012, Cuba won five golds, three silvers and six bronzes, while Australia claimed 35 medals in 2012, including seven golds.

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TWO SOUTH-based clubs, Rainbow and Exiles, came away with the four titles at stake when the DHL NACRA (North America Caribbean Rugby Association) International Beach Rugby tournament was played off at Las Cuevas on Sunday last.

The all-day tournament was hosted by the Royalians Rugby Football Club, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Royalians, formed by former Queen’s Royal College players in 1965, has a number of events planned to mark its landmark silver anniversary.

Sunday’s round-robin styled tournament was dominated by the Rainbow Sports and Cultural Club, which claimed three of the four competition categories. The Marabella outfit adapted best to playing on the sand, capturing both the Junior Male and Junior Female divisions, and they also took home the coveted Senior Male Division Trophy and its accompanying cash prize.

Not to be left out, Rainbow’s neighbours, the Exiles Youth Club out of Gasparillo was the pick of the day among the female teams and took home the Senior Female Division Trophy and cash prize.

Kwanieze John, representing NACRA at the event, expressed satisfaction with the way the day went. “We are happy to support initiatives that celebrate rugby and the development of rugby throughout the region,” she said.

“It was a well organised tournament by the Royalians RFC in celebration of their 50th Anniversary.” Patrick Roberts, chairman of Royalians’ 50th Anniversary Committee, was also delighted.

“The Beach Rugby tournament was great,” he said at day’s end. “It showed how beautiful we are as a club, as a fantastic day of rugby was held on a scenic Las Cuevas beach in perfect weather conditions. A heartfelt thanks to my 55 Royalians club mates who worked to make this event a tremendous success.”

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Mr. Cecil James was a visionary and a community icon as he encouraged the youth in the community to focus heavily on sports and other activities that assisted in achieving excellence and direction towards more positive paths in life.

Even though only a recreational player, he fueled his passion for sport and youth development by starting the D`Abadie Youths Table Tennis Club (DYTTC) in 1967 for the students, youth of the area and his children to participate in this sport.

One can still remember the exciting feeling to arrive promptly at the Community Center on a Friday or Saturday and waited on Mr. James as he parted the crowd of youngsters with his bag of rackets and the keys to unlock the front door. Then it was getting the first knock to spending the entire day even skipping lunch. The quest now is to revive this hunger and excitement to the club so others can now experience it. He was stern when it comes to his guidelines as his belief was that only a few may excel in sports but the ultimate goal is to ensure that the person never retires being a well- rounded citizen.

Arguably T&T`s Most Influential Coach solely ran DYTTC for over 30 years which hosted upwards of several hundred recreational and competitive players with approximately thirty (30) National junior and seniour players from 1975 to present. Some notable names that have been at DYTTC are: Lionel Darceuil, Catherine James- Joseph, Shellyanne Wilson, Marilyn Lewis and current players Curtis and Alaric Humphreys, Yuvraaj Dookram, Everton Sorzano and Linda Partap-Boodhan.

At the Community of D`Abadie:

31 years as a teacher at the D`Abadie Government Primary School

33 years as Secretary of the D`Abadie Village Council

20 years a Music Teacher for guitar, cuatro and harmonica

5 years as Assistant Secretary at the Trinidad & Tobago Table Tennis Association

Founding Member of the Lady of All Nations (D`Abadie RC)

The man with the watchwords “Trust in the Lord in everything that you do. Never do anything without him” will be laid to rest at the Lady of All Nations Church (D`Abadie RC) on Friday 30th October, 2015 at 9am.

Gold medallist Jehue Gordon yesterday graduated from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus with a First Class Honours Degree.

Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee Rio Olympic medal bonus 10.8.5 its your time to SHINE is on offer  for all Team TTO athletes participating in  next year's Olympic Games, the first to be held in South America.

PERHAPS no cricket team in history is as revered as the West Indies side of the 1980s. From 1980 to 1995, the team did not lose a single Test series.