Minister of Sport, Brent Sancho has vowed to give the sport of netball his full support with the hope of establishing a Professional League and new home for the sport.

Sancho, was speaking at a welcome reception he hosted at his Abercrombry Street head office, yesterday to welcome and honour the Calypso Girls home from the 14th Netball World Cup which ended in Sydney, Australia on Sunday.

T&T, which entered the 16-team tournament ranked tenth dropped its first two matches of the tournament to eventual champions and top ranked Australia (73-32) and  second ranked team and runners-ups New Zealand (74-38)  before spanking Barbados (55-39) for a 1-2 Pool A record.

In the second round for teams ninth to 16th, T&T the swept past Zambia (66-39), Singapore (75-32), Samoa (67-47) for a 3-0 record in Pool G before beating Scotland 57-56 in overtime in their ninth to 12th semifinal followed by a 64-51 defeat of Samoa in the ninth spot playoff.

Speaking at his office, Sancho, a former Soca Warriors World Cup defender first congratulated the members of the Calypso Girls and its technical staff headed by coach Wesley “Pepe” Gomes and T&T Netball Association president, Dr Patricia Butcher for doing T&T proud on the world stage.

Reflecting on the team’s difficult plight to get to the World Cup, Sancho said, “I remembered when I first came into office and I had a meeting with Dr Butcher and a two other members of the team and they  expressed to me the urgency to get funding for the women’s national team for preparation camps and tours, and then funding for going to the tournament.

He added, “What I saw in Dr Butcher  was a person who was driven and had a lot of passion for the sport and for the young people to achieve and what I saw in the players was myself, understanding what proper preparation brings and little did they knew while they were speaking I was literally signing the cheque under the table.”

“I know the importance of proper preparation and I know also the importance of netball to this country and the rich history we have in this sport and I know for a fact because of funding being a challenge for netball we would have continued on the light we were travelling before.

“But I want to state categorically on behalf of the Ministry of Sport and by extension the Sport Company of T&T that we will continue to fund this team, and we will continue to aid and assist this team in their development

“I have predicted in the next two years that women in sports will be the next big thing, I have seen the evolution of the first ever Women’s Premier League’ (football) and the success it would have had and I can see a similar feat for netball with regards to a domestic league

However, corporate T&T needs to stand up and realise what is happening in our country and need to step up to the plate,” stated Sancho.

“It is not only the responsibility of of the Government of this country to contribute to our young athletes, but corporate T&T has to take responsibility in also shaping and moulding our stars of the future.

“This Ministry would have spent and exorbitant of money in sport and as Dr Butcher would have pointed out it’s still not in comparison to other countries that the team played against so we need assistance from corporate T&T to make much of your goals a reality.

“You all are not far from being world champions again. I have watched the results and looked at some of the matches, and even against some of the top teams, despite what I will consider mediocre preparation for the standard you should be you still had very commendable performance and in some instance, it was very unfortunate you did not turn out to have more positive results.

So I say to you please keep on the course that you are charting on. I am very much aware that most of you work and still train at the same time and the lack of facilities that we have as it relates to netball and its something we at the Ministry is looking at and I can tell you, by the next time you are preparing for a World Championship event, you will have a brand new court to play on.

A supportive Sancho in his final words to the players said, “Continue on the all hard work, it has not gone unnoticed and we will continue to contribute even if I myself has to get out there with Dr Butcher and get corporate T&T behind you.”

“We have the talent here and I truly believe, particularly in women sport that your year is around the corner. I’m seeing it in track and field, and other sports that women are doing a tremendous job.

“We have some talented young women in this country and they are not too far away from achieving the goals that they set out to achieve, “ ended the former England-based footballer.

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Returning Calypso Girls skipper Joelisa Cooper emphasised the need for support and structure in the local game in the wake of their adventure at the Netball World Cup.
The Trinidad and Tobago netball team finished ninth in Sydney. However, there is a reasonable feeling in hindsight from various camps that the team was good enough to finish even higher.
Before the netballers had left for Sydney on August 1, Cooper told the Express that they had been training consistently in the two years leading up to the World Cup. None of the players were being paid for their involvement in the national set up, as there is no professional national league here.

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The Trinidad and Tobago cyclists have been given their much-need life line according to president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TTCF) Robert Farrier yesterday. The team had run into a serious rut when last week they discovered that they would not be receiving funding for their air fare for the Pan American Cycling Championships next month in Santiago, Chile.
Initially, the Ministry of Sport (MoS) told the TTCF that they were unable to fund the cyclists for the championships in Chile in three weeks' time, citing exhausted funds as the cause.
The competition in Chile, crucial for the athletes because it is a UCI-sanctioned event, which will help them accumulate points towards their overall world ranking, which will determine participation at next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee  (TTOC ) extends congratulations to Sebastian Coe on his election as IAAF President.
Mr Coe's experience and proven track record in sport,business , politics and his vision and purpose for the role of sport,in particular track and field will give him the required insight and perspective to lead the IAAF at this juncture in its history.

Sebastian Coe was today elected the new President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), beating his only rival Sergey Bubka, here today.

Britain's double Olympic 1500 metres champion polled 115 votes to 92 for Bubka, Ukraine's former world record holder for the pole vault, at the IAAF Congress.

Coe, the former chairman of London 2012, will succeed 82-year-old Senegalese Lamine Diack, who is stepping down from the role after 16 years, at the conclusion of the IAAF World Championships, due to start in the Chinese capital on Saturday (August 22).

He is also expected now to be appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a role he is likely to take up just before next year's Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Bubka will serve as Coe's senior vice-president after receiving 187 votes in the election that followed.

Thirty-four years to the day since he set a world record for the mile in Zürich, Coe claimed his election was the "second most momentous moment in my life" behind the birth of his children.

"These words are not in any way rehearsed, first I would like to thank Sergey for a thoroughly good and long campaign," Coe added.

"I think it has been in the best traditions of everything we both believe, we have fought according to sound judgement throughout.

"I'd like to thank President Diack for the many personal kindnesses both public and private and to you, the Member Federations, for placing your trust in me today."

Bubka was magnanimous in defeat.

"I know that athletics in the future will grow, and become stronger and stronger," he said after congratulating Coe.

The election of 58-year-old Coe came at the end of a marathon campaign during which he claimed to have travelled 700,000 kilometres - the equivalent of four times around the world - and met a representative from all 214 countries who are a member of the IAAF.

"There is no task in my life for which I have been better prepared," Coe told the IAAF Congress during a five-minute presentation before the vote.

"No job I have ever wanted to do more nor would be more committed to.

"With confidence, with affection, my friends I place myself in your hands.

"If you place your trust in me today, I will not let you down."

A key moment in Coe's victory is widely believed to have been a controversial "declaration of war" speech following allegations by German broadcaster ARD/WDR and the Sunday Times that claimed an "extraordinary extent of cheating" by athletes after they obtained blood test data from 5,000 athletes between 2001 and 2012.

Widely condemned in the media for his comments, Coe's staunch defence of the sport appeared to go down well with delegates, however.

"As you have seen in recent weeks I will always be in your corner," he told them during his presentation.

"Your fight is my fight."

Setting up an independent anti-doping agency was among the most important points in Coe's manifesto.

He only alluded to the new organisation in his address to Congress in the loosest of terms, though.

"Committing to a sport based on a strong foundation and the twin principles of trust and integrity," was one of his promises he told them.

"We could not have survived for three weeks let alone 33 centuries if we were based on anything other than that."

Coe is only the sixth President in the 103-year history of the IAAF.

He is the second Briton to hold the role, following the Marquess of Exeter, better known as Lord Burghley, who held the position between 1946 and 1976.

Like Coe, he was an Olympic gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles at Amsterdam 1928; Like Coe, he was organiser of the Olympic Games in London, in 1948; and, like Coe, he was chairman of the British Olympic Association.

"We have a man who has devoted his life to the sport." said Diack of Coe.

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Yesterday August 15th 2015, Trinidad and Tobago’s top Beach Volleyball pair of Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield finished 2nd at the California Beach Volleyball Tournament played at Ocean Beach in San Diego USA.

The T&T pair popularly known as the “Toco Boys” was ranked last in the tournament of thirty four (34) teams, placing them in a group with the top ranked team. Most of the teams in the tournament were from the USA. T&T was able to win group 1 an advance directly to the quarter finals. They also won the Quarter Finals and the Semi Finals. T&T lost in the finals to the National Team of Mexico that recently won gold at the Pan American Games.

Mexico was also the team to knock T&T out of the Pan Am games where the Toco Boys placed a credible ninth.
The T&T duo has been on tour since May training on Dogg Beach, California. They participated on the NORCECA Tour legs Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and North Bay Canada. They also participated on the World Tour, St. Petersburg Leg and in the Pan American Games in Toronto Canada. The team is in preparation for a run at the 2016 Olympics qualification. They won the first leg of the process back in May at Saith Park in front of a jubilant home crowd.

The TTVF thanks the Minister of Sport the Honourable Mr. Brent Sancho for his support towards keeping the team on tour. We would also like to thank Mr. Anthony Creed and the Sports Company, Mr. Brian Lewis and the TTOC for its contribution to the process. The Team would continue its preparation heading into the second round of the Olympic Qualification process.

The team’s upcoming activities:
1) Another Open California Tournament - August
2) World Tour – Long Beach Leg - August
3) NORCECA Tour – Veracruz Cuba - August
4) NORCECA Tour – Florida USA - September
5) Return home for a major Beach Volleyball Launch. – September
6) Olympic Qualification 2nd Round Jamaica – September

The TTVF would like the team to be given Elite Athlete Funding consideration. The TTVF would also like the Government to consider allocating a percentage of the NLCB Profits to the SPORTT Company to distribute to deserving sporting organisations as is the practice in the UK, Jamaica and Barbados.