media_artricles :: 2015

53 years of sporting excellence

As T&T celebrates 53 years of political Independence, we should remind ourselves of the outstanding contributions over this period of our sportswomen and sportsmen in their respective sporting disciplines locally, regionally and internationally.

Athletics:

• Hasley Crawford, gold medal, 100 metres Montreal Olympics 1976

• Keshorn Walcott gold medal javelin London Olympics 2012, Pan American Games, Toronto 2015

• Jehue Gordon, gold medal, 400 metres hurdle IAAF World Championship in Moscow, Russia in 2014

• Cleopatra Borel, gold,shot put Pan American Games Toronto 2015

• Jarrin Solomon, Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio and Lalonde Gordon 4x400 gold Pan American Games, Toronto 2015

• Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Michelle-Lee Ahye, Reyare Thomas and Semoy Hackett 4x100 bronze, 1AAF World Championship, Beijing, China, 2015

• Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio, Deon Lendore and Lalonde Gordon 4x400 silver 1AAF World Championship, Beijing, China, 2015, new national time 2:58.20

• Khalifa St Fort, silver 100m IAAF World Junior Championship, Cali Colombia, 2015

• Rondell Sorrillo, Keston Bledman, Emmanuel Callender, Dan-Neil Telesford, Wendell Mottley, Ato Boldon, Richard Thompson Daryl Brown, Marc Burns, Richard Thompson, Mikel Thomas, and Kamria Durant

• Trinidad and Tobago World Masters Athletic team (outdoor) ten medals (4 golds, 3 silver, 3 bronze) World Games, Lyon France, 2015. 18 medals at Masters games Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2013.

Badminton: Debra O’Connor—5 times (1984, 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1995). Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO). Single and doubles champion in 1984, 1985 and 1995. In 1990 and 1993 she was a Triple Crown winner, being crowned singles, doubles and mixed doubles champion.

Body Building:

Dareem Charles, Michael Hercules

Boxing:

• Claude Noel first world champion, Mexican Rodolfo Gonzalez to win the WBA World Lightweight title, 1981

• Leslie Stewart won the WBA World Light Heavyweight title in 1987 defeating Marvin ‘pops’ Johnson

• Ria Ramnarine T&T first female world champion, defeated Ana Fernandez to win the WIBA Mini Flyweight World title, 2005

• Giselle Salandy multiple World champion- WBA, WBC and WIBA middle weight titles

Cricket: Brian Lara world record holder for the highest first class score (501 not out) and highest test score (400 not out). Sir Learie Constantine, Jeffery Stollmeyer, Brian Davis, Charlie Davis, Sonny Ramadhin, Gerry Gomez, Deryck Murray, Bernard Julien, Rangy Nanan, Inshan Ali, Ian Bishop, Dinanath Ramnarine, Ann Browne-John, Anisa Mohammed, Merissa Aguilleira, Joey Carew, Daren Ganga, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Daren Bravo. T&T Blind and Visually Impaired cricket team—WICB T20 and 40 overs champions 2015.

Cycling: Roger Gibbon, Gene Samuel, Maxwell Cheeseman, Michael Phillips, Hylton “Barracuda” Mitchell, Roger Smart, Njisane Phillip and Emile Abraham.

Distance Running: Moses Ranghell, Bernard Mungroo, Michael Alexander, Curtis Cox, Richard Jones, Lynette “Granny” Luces, Richard Jones and Tonya Nero.

Dragon Boat Racing: Aquaholics Dragon Boat 1st 200m Premier Mixed Category at Pan American Club Crew Champions (PACCC), Canada 2015. 2nd and 3rd in two other events over 500m and 200m respectively.

Football: Dwight Yorke won several championships in England and Europe with Manchester United. Alvin Corneal, Bobby Sookram, Sedley Joseph, Lincoln Phillips, Everald “Gally” Cummings, Richard Chinapoo, David Nahkid, Russell Latapy, and Shaka Hislop. The ‘Strike Squad’ 1989, ‘Soca Warriors’ 2006, and ‘Soca Princess’ 2014.

Golf: Stephen Ames, Carlos ‘Sexy’ Baynes, Maria Nunes Sachin Kumar, Liam Bryden, Zoe Correia, Ryan Peters, Ysabelle Lawrence, Sarah Mackenzie

Hockey: Stacey Sui Butt, Kwandwane Browne and Dwain Quan Chan.

Horse Racing: Emile Ramsammy, Eric ‘Colt’ Duran, Maniram ‘Boboy’ Maharaj

Netball: T&T was crowned joint World Netball Champions with Australia and New Zealand in 1979, 3rd in Singapore 1983, Joint 2nd in Scotland 1987, 9th in Australia 2015. Jean Pierre, Janet Bailey, Sharon Castanada, Joelisa Cooper, Samantha Wallace

Powerboat Racing: Andrew Lewis, Ken Charles

Special Olympics: T&T, 48 medals (15 gold, 9 silver and 24 bronze), Special Olympics World Games, Los Angeles, California 2015.

Squash: Colin Ramasra, T&T’s first professional player (2007), highest ranking in the world, 148. Joshua Pinard, Kale Wilson and Richard Hart.

Swimming: George Bovell III bronze medal in the 200IM at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Multiple medallists at World Championships, FINA World Cup, Pan American Games, CAC. Paul Newallo, Sebastian Paddington, Sioban Cropper, Shantol Ince and Dylan Carter.

Table Tennis: Mansingh Amarsingh, Derek DeSilva, Steve Ragbir, Seamus Clarke, Dexter St Louis and Rheann Chung, Aaron Wilson, Arun Roopnarine and Aleena Edwards.

Tennis: Lystra Lewis, Allan and Lindsay Price, Beverly Corbie, Elizabeth Gibson, Shane Stone, Ivor Grazette, Olivia Bennett, Anneliese Rose, Shenelle Mohammed, Solange Skeene, Emma Davis, Emma-Rose Trestrail, Emily Lawrence, Nabeel Mohammed, Kobe Andrews, Liam Sheppard, and Aidan Carter.

Shooting: Bert Manhin and Roger Daniel

Triathlon: Jason Gooding and Ancil Greene

Taekwondo: Cheryl Sankar stood tall in Taekwondo.

Weightlifting: Rodney Wilkes was the country’s first medallist at the Olympics winning the silver medal in the featherweight category at the 1948 London Games.

At the 1952 Helsinki Games, he won bronze at the same event.

It is evident that T&T Independence can also be viewed through the excellent performances of its sportswomen and sportsmen.

Their performances have continued to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago is viewed as a serious competitor at all levels of competition.

As the society develop, every effort should be made to continue to support the country’s sportswomen and sportsmen in the most efficient, effective and transparently accountable manner so that they can realise their dreams as well continue the rich tradition of sporting success.

Top