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Kaieteur News
WICB U-19 Tournament round-up Following are the summarised closeof-play scores on the second day of the third round of matches in the WICB Regional Under-19 3-day Championship in Barbados. Play was extended to 6 pm at Weymouth because of a late start in the morning session. At Pine Basin: Guyana trail T&T by 195 runs with six wickets intact. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 375-7 decl. (Jeremy Solozano 160 not out, Vikash Mohan 45, Nicholas Pooran 94; Mohan Ramdeen 131) GUYANA 180-4 (Ricardo Adams 53 not out, Mohan Ramdeen 47, Chanderpaul Hemraj 31, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 23 not out;
Philton Williams 2-38) At Weymouth: Barbados trail Jamaica by 141 runs. BARBADOS 106 (Akeem Jordan 24, Darnell Greenidge 23; Christopher Powell 522) and 1-0. JAMAICA 248 (Aldaine Thomas 91, Delbert Gayle 29, Tristan Coleman 25, Raghni Francis 24; Marlon WelcomeGoodman 3-62, Chad Williams 2-35, Neil Persaud 2-35) At Carlton: No play due to rain LEEWARD ISLANDS 179 (Darren Hobson 69, Akeem Saunders 46; Preston McSween 450, Larry Edward 3-61) WINDWARD ISLANDS 25-0
Pathan bowls India to Twenty20 win
Virat Kohli made another half-century. (AFP)
(Reuters) - Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan produced another match-winning performance as the visitors beat Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the one-off Twenty20 international at Pallakele on Tuesday. Pathan, whose five for 61 helped India win the fifth oneday international on Saturday, took three for 27 runs to break the back of the Sri Lankan batting. Sri Lanka never recovered from that early setback and were dismissed for a disappointing 116 runs in 18 overs in reply to India’s moderate total of 155 for three. Pathan gave India the ideal start by shattering the stumps of Tillakaratne Dilshan for a duck and then went onto dismiss Upul Tharanga for five and Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene for 26. Although Sri Lanka fought back through contributions from Lahiru Thirimanne (20) and Angelo Mathews (31), India kept
picking up wickets at regular intervals to peg their rivals down. Fast bowler Ashok Dinda brought a swift end to the Sri Lankan innings by capturing three wickets in his third over to end with four for 19. India’s batting was dominated again by the inform Virat Kohli who scored his maiden Twenty20 halfcentury. Kohli’s exquisite batting brought him 68 runs off 48 balls including 11 fours and one six. He shared a partnership of 74 with Ajinkya Rahane (21) and one of 48 with Suresh Raina who finished on 34 not out. Shamind Eranga was Sri Lanka’s best bowler with two for 30. India also won the fivematch one-day series 4-1 to complete their short tour on a high note. Scores: India 155 for 3 (Kohli 68, Raina 34*, Eranga 2-30) beat Sri Lanka 116 (Mathews 31, Dinda 419, Irfan 3-27) by 39 runs.
Agenda for rest of year set by BCB Special Events Committee The rainy weather has resulted in setbacks for the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) 2012 season as the Board has been unable to play any cricket on the field. This has been most disappointing for all the BCB plans; having projected to host close to 25 tournaments at both the Countywide and Inter Zone levels. The Special Events Committee of the Board has however used the opportunity to complete a
record breaking 132 off the field activities/programmes. The Committee at the start of 2012 had set itself a target of 75 activities/ programmes but has already surpassed that target and is now aiming to complete 175 in the year. Chairman of the Special events Committee Hilbert Foster has disclosed that among the activities/ programmes planned for the remainder of 2012 are the
Annual Review Magazine, Tribute to Heroes, Tribute to Umpires, tribute to Retired Cricketers, Tribute to Coaches, Tribute to Groundsmen, Senior Cricketers Charity Programme, Grade 6 Students Awards Scheme, Outstanding CSEC Students Awards Scheme, Induction of six players into the BCB Hall of Fame, batting clinic, fast bowling clinic and a special clinic for female cricketers.
Barbados TT Club for exchange visit The Guyana Table Tennis Association will host a club from a Barbados Table Tennis (TT) Club, comprising cadet players at the beginners and intermediate levels. The players will be here from August 8-17 to engage in a developmental exchange programme. The team comprising over 11 players and parents under the tutelage of G. Sobers will be arriving in Guyana today. This is the second exchange programme between regional table tennis counterparts that the GTTA has hosted.
Last year, the GTTA hosted a similar programme with players from Tobago where the players underwent a range of skills. The Barbadians are expected to engage players from Guyana in competition in their respective categories. Linden Johnson, Sydney Christophe and Godfrey Munroe were among the coaches involved last year. Similar programmes are planned for this group utilising players from the respective summer programmes of the GTTA coaches.
Wednesday August 08, 2012
Media needs to act fearlessly to rid Sport of shameless officials By Rawle Welch Shortly after watching the conclusion of the Women’s Olympic 100 metres final where Jamaican and defending champion Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce successfully retained her crown, a fellow employee, who was in the midst of a group of us viewing the race blurted out that Guyana’s best chance of winning a gold medal in the foreseeable future could only come from among the consistent assembly of officials that usually attend the Games. This humorous claim must have been induced after watching the pathetic performances recorded by Guyana’s representatives, who should not be blamed for the dismal showing, but rather the Government and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), the two institutions that failed to provide the kind of support needed for them to perform satisfactorily at the elite level. The top representatives of these two important institutions have so far displayed an inability to understand the kind of substantial support that is required for an athlete to win a medal at the elite competitions in sport or even recognize the important role sport can play in giving a country global recognition. The host country of the 2012 Summer Olympics (Britain) since it won the bid to stage the Games immediately set about preparing its athletes to perform at their optimum for the big occasion and this was done through the infusion of millions of pounds to cover every aspect of their preparations through the provision of top flight coaches, ensuring that they competed regularly at most of the elite competitions as well as providing all the o t h e r r e l a ted support personnel to guarantee success and as we all know they have done so. The Host Nation, though it was predicted that they will do well at home, have exceeded all expectations and this is simply because of the thorough preparations that their athletes were afforded which has evidently been manifested in the exceptional results to date. Having athletes such as Winston George attend a training camp in Jamaica will not suffice unless he is consistently exposed to a higher level of competition
and not remain restricted to low tier Meets at home. Imagine, South African O s c ar ‘blade runner’ Pistorius registered a faster time than George, while apart from the experienced middle distance a t h l e t e A l i a n n Pompey, who made it to the semi-finals of the 400 metres, sprinter Jeremy Bascom, swimmers Niall Roberts and Britany Van Lange and judoka Raul Lall, all looked out of sorts in their respective competitions. All Guyanese should be disgusted and utterly dismayed that we haven’t been able to win another Olympic medal since boxer Michael Parris won a bronze at the 1980 Moscow Games, making it 32 years to date since we haven’t won another, while many of our small Caribbean counterparts have done so with home bred athletes. W h e n G r e n a d a ’s 1 9 year-old sensation Kirani James won his country’s first ever Olympic medal on Sunday, a gold, the 214 square miles island situated in the Caribbean Sea must have erupted with wild celebration, understandably so since its native son had predominantly honed his skill at home, except for a couple of years at the University of Alabama in the USA. His prodigious talent was evident from an early age and it was augmented with support from the Government and the Athletic Association of the country, but in Guyana even when talent is spotted, the much needed support mechanisms are usually missing. It is patently clear that the current crop of Sport Officials are either devoid of initiatives or even lack motivation to fast track the development of sports. Many within the sports fraternity have even advocated that some officials are just intent on holding on to the reins of office for personal gains.
The society in which we live has condoned such practices where someone could hold office for 15 to 20 years with little or no positive results, but still shamelessly cling to power at the expense of many athletes whose careers are destroyed due to their selfish acts. It is disgracefully mind boggling that officials could cleave to power for many years without one example of success, deceiving an entire nation in the process through the blame game. The Government of Guyana and the GOA have failed our athletes’ aspirations to become worthy Olympians by their lack of a strategic plan to develop sports in an organized manner, while the nonappearance of the ‘National Sports Policy’ after several promises of its release is ample evidence of the lack of seriousness on the Government’s part. The next Olympics will be held in neighbouring Brazil and just as this nation is experiencing a new dispensation in Parliament, strong actions should be taken to ensure that over the next four years as we prepare our athletes to participate at the Games, we do so without the company of many of those officials whose record of achievement is abysmal. It is time for serious stakeholders to demand change and bring pressure on those who believe it is their right to continue to embarrass this nation. It will require a fearless act from the media, while the corporate community and the athletes have to play their part. It is time we start thinking about how proud we would feel as a nation if one of our Olympians duplicate the performance of Usain Bolt, Fraser-Pryce and James and be interviewed by the top broadcasting networks of this world. What a day that will be to be Guyanese.
Senior GCF official allegedly... From back page Tobago recently. Upon the receipt of this information, the GCF official enquired from Trinidad and Tobago why a request was not made for her son among the two riders. The source said Trinidadian officials told the GCF official that her son could compete on his own funding. That feedback did not sit well with the official, who allegedly purposely ducked the participation of Greaves and Persaud. The source mentioned this issue among allegations of financial mischief and as noted before, the absence of the AGM, which is now set for Saturday. (Edison Jefford)