Durban's bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games will start being inspected by voters today when delegations from Africa and Asia arrive in the South African city.
They will be followed by a group from Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA) in Europe and Oceania on July 22 and then from the Americas and Caribbean countries on August 5, less than a month before the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) votes on whether Durban should become the first African nation to host the event.
They have been the only bidder since February when Edmonton withdrew, blaming the impact of the woldwide oil crisis.
But the CGF still has to formally to approve that they should stage the event.
The aim of the inbound visits is for these Commonwealth Games Associations, representing the 71 countries of the Commonwealth, to conduct personal assessments of Durban’s bid proposal.
In April the CGF’s Evaluation Commission, chaired by Scotland's Louise Martin, visited Durban to meet the Government and city partners who will be essential to the successful delivery of the Games, as well as visiting numerous competition and non-competition venues and facilities.
The Evaluation Commission is due to publish its report on July 31 and present its finding to the full CGF membership at the General Assembly in Auckland on September 2. 
“These visits by the CGA are absolutely critical for the bid process as they would determine whether Durban is awarded the right to host the Games in 2022 or not," Tubby Reddy, the chief executive of Durban 2022, said.
"These member countries would make their own appraisal of our bid and then cast their vote in September.
"It is therefore imperative that what we lodged at the CGF in London in March meets the expectations of the CGA when they inspect the infrastructure and facilities in Durban.”
Mark Alexander, chairman of Durban 2022, is confident, though, that they will impress their important visitors.
“We believe that we have lodged a world-class bid that meets all the stringent criteria set by the CGF and that when the CGA votes in September, the Games will be coming to Africa in 2022," he said.
T&T athletes capture 48 medals
T&T’s 64-member delegation finished with a total of 48 medals (15 gold, nine silver and 24 bronze) as the Special Olympics World Summer Games came to a close in Los Angeles, California , USA on Sunday.
Additionally, the team returned home with 18 fourth place, three fifth place, seven sixth place, two seventh place and one eighth place ribbons in Aquatics, Athletics, Basketball, Bocce, Equestrian, Football, Powerlifting and Volleyball. At the 2011 Games, they captured 15 gold, 15 silver and eight bronze medals.
On T&T’s final day of competition on Saturday, its athletes added a total of 10 medals, including one gold, two silver and seven bronze, along with four fourth place and two sixth place ribbons.
Aquatics 4x25m Freestyle Relay Team “A”, consisting of Nikolai Lalla, Chavez Lamy, Jaleel Pierre and Shania Surujbally, gave high expectations when they clocked 1:02.44 seconds, the fastest overall time in the preliminaries. However, they were disqualified when one of the swimmers was judged to have entered the pool before time.
The 4x25m Relay Team “B” with Melissa Nanan, Theresa Duncan, Jariah Walker and Vanessa Maharaj was sixth in its division. The aquatics team finished with three gold, one silver, three bronze, four fourth place, one fifth place, one sixth place and one disqualification.
SOT&T Athletics 4x100m relay team of Donald Doyle, Latoya Charles, Devon Wilson and Rickie Quow finished in sixth place in a time of 54.37. Ishmael Perpignac was unable to finish his 800m race due to an injury. Athletics brought home four gold, one silver, four bronze, four fourth place, one fifth place, two sixth place, two seventh place, one eighth place and three disqualifications.
SOT&T Bocce’s Alicia Khan completed the triple when she teamed with Renee Massiah to capture her third Gold Medal in the Doubles Competition. Kerry James and Ronan Dominique also won a bronze medal, while the pair of Colin Duncan and Beverly Adams won a fourth place ribbon. Bocce finished with three gold, two silver, two bronze, two fourth place and one sixth place ribbon.
Basketball captured the bronze medal when they defeated Japan. In the Equestrian Team Relay Competition, Jomal Forde partnered Keonne Jones to earn a bronze medal. The team finished with four gold, one silver, four bronze, two fourth place, one fifth place and one sixth place. Joanne Piango finished with triple gold.
SOT&T Football captured the gold medal in its division. The team played undefeated in all competition with earlier results of 2-2 against Faro Islands on Saturday, 4-0 over Costa Rica and 1-1 against Switzerland on Sunday, 4-1 over St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 2-1 over Barbados and 4-2 against Hong Kong. Brandon George was the leading scorer for SOT&T with five goals but was supported by captain Devan Mahadeo and Gari Ryan with four goals each, Clint Samuel with three, Sean Gibson with two and Nathan Mc Lean and Aleem Hassan with one goal each.
In Powerlifting, Damian Marquis captured a silver medal in the Bench Press with 92.5 kg, a bronze with 125kg in the Squat, and fourth place in the Dead Lift with 157.5 kg. That was good enough to win a silver medal in the Combination Lifts. Malachi Sylvester won four bronze medals, lifting 72.5kg in Bench Press, 110 kg in the Squat, 145kg in the deadlift for a total of 327.5kg in the Combination Lifts.
SOTT Volleyball defeated Jamaica but lost to India in a grueling three-setter later in the day to capture a fourth place ribbon. The Games came to an end on Sunday with a closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The SOTT Delegation returned in two groups yesterday. The first group, with Aquatics, Athletics, Basketball and Powerlifting athletes, is expected to arrive in Piarco at 1.45 pm while the second group, with Bocce, Equestrian, Football and Volleyball athletes, will arrive at 9 pm later that day.
Sancho pleased with WPL
Sport Minister says ‘women’s football won’
The curtain came down on the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) last Thursday at the St James Barracks. The fiery closing act from the Boom Champions Fuego concluded a month of extremely competitive women's football across the country.
The Minister of Sport Brent Sancho was overall very satisfied with his administration's first crack at a women's professional league. "Women's football has been neglected for a very long time," the minister told the Express. "When I became sports minister, I felt I had to make sure that women's sports would get the kind of attention it needs."
According to the minister, he wanted to reach out and create an outlet for the premier women's footballers in Trinidad and Tobago.
There had been concerns however after Sancho's announcement of the WPL in March. The league itself was met with a lot of scepticism, particularly amongst the media in the build up to the opening day of action. The minister acknowledged the setbacks, citing the fact that they were inevitable seeing that the league was the first of its kind in T&T.
Many critics of the league were waving the red flag at the plausibility of the league being a state-run entity, therefore wasting tax dollars in the process. Sancho ensured that there was no such issue once the league kicked off.
"The majority of this league was sponsored by corporate T&T," he said. "The various teams took franchises and it boded well with the concept of the league." The minister also indicated that the private-sector sponsorship has ensured the longevity of the league. "What it has done is it has made sure the league has a projection, and we have already had calls from future suitors that want to be involved with the league for next year," he added.
Sancho also indicated that the players involved with the franchise teams were duly compensated for their endeavours. "We went along with most leagues around the world in terms of payment. We tried to do a tier system, and I think the main thing is that we tried to make players comfortable," said the minister.
According to Sancho, coach Karla Aleman praised the league as well, saying that she has yet to see the effort made for the league done anywhere else. "On this side of the world, I don't think there's any other women's league except the US that gives the players that type of financial opportunity," emphasised Sancho.
The Women's League Football (WoLF) was also a talking point, however. Many felt that the league which served as the premier women's competition in T&T since 2009, would have been overshadowed by its brand new successor. Sancho reiterated that the intention was never to push WoLF out. "This league is not in competition with the WoLF at all," he said. "It is actually meant to enhance it... in terms of the development of the league (WPL) we hope that the WoLF would play an even bigger part."
Attention inevitably has shifted away from the WoLF however. The St Ann's Rangers team, who were the defending champions, had to pull out entirely as most of their first eleven were drafted into the WPL.
The league itself had matches featured in tandem with the WPL on two different match days. Currently it seems the competition has taken a bit of a lull before its knockout phase, as even coaches are unsure as to when their next match will be played. The minister was unable elaborate on any perceived organisational issues that the competition was having.
But Sancho is already looking ahead to the future despite the WPL's recent conclusion. "This has been cabinet approved for three years," he said. "The first year would always be a challenge, but we're very happy to see that it turned out as it did. From an awareness standpoint, women's sport was really the winner from this."
Sancho hopes to see a tier system being used as a part of women's football in T&T, with the idea being that a girl's career could start at the secondary level, then move up to the WoLF, with the WPL being the top level of women's football available in T&T.
Mixed fortunes for Special Olympians
It was a day of mixed results last Thursday for the Trinidad and Tobago Special Olympics Team, currently in Los Angeles, California, USA, for the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
In Equestrian English Equitation Competition, athlete Joanne Piango scored 53 points to bring home a gold medal while Aaron Ben Ali won a bronze medal with 48 points.
In athletics, T&T's athletes competed in the finals of the men's 200m and 400m. In the 200m, Donald Doyle clocked 25.63 seconds to attain an 8th Place Ribbon. Yetendra Singh one minute, 8.26 seconds, and Ishmael Perpignac in 1:10.29, both won 7th Place Ribbons in their 400m races, respectively.
There were mixed emotions for Rickey Quow in his 200m race. Rickey, who is the brother of T&T international Renee Quow, came to the Games with a pair of running shoes donated by his elder brother and a promise to follow in the illustrious footsteps of his sibling.
For a brief moment it appeared that he had fulfilled that dream when he ran 25.22 to just be beaten across the finish line by Gharawy Faris from Saudi Arabia in 25.19.
It was subsequently learnt though, that Rickey had been disqualified for a “Lane Infringement” or crossing lanes. Rickey will have to await the 100m and 4 x 100m relay.
Female Bocce player Beverly Adams finished with a 6th Place Ribbon while, Renee Massiah, Alicia Khan, will be in action in Singles Competition on Thursday.
Thursday's Events
Basketball: T&T v Japan
Volleyball: T&T will face Russia then Croatia
Ahye 2nd in comeback race
Michelle-Lee Ahye was the best of the Trinidad and Tobago athletes on show at the American Track League meet, in Atlanta, United States, on Saturday night. Ahye picked up silver in the women’s 100 metres dash in 11.29 seconds. Jamaica’s 2007 world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown clocked 11.22 to claim gold. Bronze, meanwhile, went to another Jamaican, Simone Facey (11.30). The other T&T sprinter in the race, Kai Selvon got to the line in 11.70 seconds to finish seventh.
Ahye and Selvon are coming back from injury, and used Saturday’s meet to prove their fitness ahead of the August 22-30 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.
Semoy Hackett secured bronze in the American Track League women’s 200m, the T&T athlete getting home in 23.37 seconds. Campbell-Brown was also the winner in the half-lap event, the two-time Olympic 200m champion stopping the clock at 22.82 for a comfortable cushion on second-placed Charonda Williams (23.25) of the United States.
Like Ahye and Selvon, Deon Lendore ran a comeback race at the American Track League meet. The T&T quartermiler was sixth in the men’s 400m, completing his lap of the track in 45.94 seconds. Nineteen-year-old Bahamian Steven Gardiner triumphed in 45.11, forcing decathlete Ashton Eaton to settle for the runner-up spot in 45.55. Eaton’s fellow-American, Kyle Clemons clocked 45.76 to finish third.
In a Twitter post, on Saturday night, Lendore said: “I’m thankful I’m not hurt no more but I’m disappointed I didn’t trust myself in this race. Brighter days ahead.”
Wednesday 5th August One year to go to Rio Olympics
The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro begin 5th August 2016.
Wednesday 5th August will mark the 365 days to go countdown.
IOC President Thomas Bach will head to Rio de Janeiro for the one year to go celebration.
The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee will join with the rest of the global Olympic Movement in acknowledging the important one year to go mile post along the 2016 Olympic journey.