Wednesday January 29, 2014
Kaieteur News
Crandon confident as national team departs for NAGICO Super50 Coach of the Guyana team Esaun Crandon expressed confidence that his team can go all the way in the Regional NAGICO Super50 tournament which commences on January 30 in Trinidad and Tobago. Speaking with Kaieteur Sport yesterday morning at Windjammer hotel before their departure, Crandon said that winning the tournament is not going to be as easy task. “There are some very good teams so we expect a high level of competition. Our guys have to take one game at a time and play to the best
of their ability and as long as they can do that we will be very hard to beat”, he said. Crandon stated that their first objective is to get to the semis and take it from there. He informed that the team is a well balanced one. “It is a mixture of youth and experience; I think the selectors did a fine job”, he added. The coach indicated that he is satisfied with the team’s preparation. “The players looked good; they worked really hard during the training sessions
and their fitness level improved tremendously”, he explained. When quizzed as to what conditions he expects in the Twin Island Republic, Crandon said he feels that the ball will move around a lot in the nights. He said most players are aware of this and getting acclimatized to the conditions as soon as possible will be an important factor. Guyana begins their campaign against Ireland on January 31. (Zaheer Mohamed)
ESPN Caribbean presents NAGICO Super50 Bridgetown, Barbados ESPN Caribbean brings exclusive coverage of the Caribbean’s marquee 50-over competition featuring the region’s One-Day superstars commencing January 30. ESPN Caribbean will present live, exclusive coverage of the region’s elite One Day International (ODI) tournament, the NAGICO Super50, from January 30 until February 16 from Trinidad and Tobago. The matches held in Trinidad will air live from 1:50 p.m. (Eastern Caribbean Time) on the ESPN Caribbean and ESPN 2 Caribbean television networks and on ESPN Play (www.espnplay.com) — ESPN’s multiscreen live and on-demand broadband service. The competition is the West Indies Cricket Board’s
premier limited-overs event. Defending champions, Windward Islands, head Zone A along with Jamaica, Guyana and foreign guests, Ireland. Zone B consists of last year ’s beaten finalist, Combined Campuses and Colleges (C.C.C.), as well as the hosts, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Leeward Islands. Matches will be played at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Shaw Park in Tobago as the teams vie for the coveted Clive Lloyd Trophy, named after the revered batsman and former West Indies skipper. The top two teams will advance from each Zone into the Semi-Finals. These will be held on February 12 and 13 with the Finals slated for February 15. ESPN Caribbean will also air ESPN Cricket Report during this knockout
phase, hosted by Barry Wilkinson and analyst, West Indian legend Colin Croft. They will cover pre-match (1:30 p.m. ECT) and midinnings (5:30 p.m. ECT) analysis as well as ESPN Cricket Final, a half-hour post-match recap (10:00 p.m. ECT) following each eliminator. This tournament serves as a prelude to the Windies’ limited-overs home series against England prior to their title defense of the International Cricket Council (I.C.C.) World Twenty20 trophy, which will be broadcast exclusively by ESPN Caribbean in March 2014. Follow all of the NAGICO Super50 at #ESPNS50 as ESPN Caribbean continues to connect theregion’s fans with the sports they love.
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GBA President mulls developmental strategies as international amateur boxing returns to the CASH By Michael Benjamin If President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle gets his way, local amateur referees and judges would soon receive a reasonable stipend for their services rendered to the sport. This was a part of the projection mooted by Mr. Ninvalle in an interview with Kaieteur Sport at his Main Street office yesterday afternoon. He said that the local officials had recently formed a referees/judges commission and are scheduled to meet with GBA executives this afternoon to discuss issues and strategies relating to their development and operations. This will also include the possibility of stipend for their services. “Referees and judges are very important in the scheme of things and we must find ways of rewarding them for their time and effort,” said Mr. Ninvalle. This issue would also form a part of the discussions this afternoon and the GBA President said that it will be thoroughly ventilated though his organization is somewhat cash strapped. Mr. Ninvalle reflected on the performance of his executives over the past year and decided a ‘C’ grade would be concomitant with their performance. He said that amidst all of the challenges and limited resources, his executives had performed credibly and the returns from the boxers, even though appearing to be insignificant, would eventually be seen in the long term. The GBA President further pointed out that one of the challenges faced by his administration was the issue of encampment of the boxers preparing for international engagements. He said that it is very important to have the pugilists encamped so that the national coaches could assess their progress. However, the cost of such exercises is very prohibitive and his executives would be examining ways of grappling this challenge. The GBA will commence the fiscal year on a high note with the Tri-Nation tournament which will be contested between February 14-16 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) and Mr. Ninvalle believes that the tournament could be the catalyst to the return of staunch support from both the corporate community as
Steve Ninvalle
Terrence Poole
well as spectators. He said that he will aspire to make the Caribbean tournament a yearly feature even as he works feverishly to have a resuscitation of the Cuba exchange programmes. To this effect, the GBA boss said that he has drafted a correspondence which will be dispatched to the Cuban authorities with an aim of realizing those goals. “Our boxers have done quite well during the era of those exchange programmes and I believe that the resuscitation may very well improve their fortunes on the international scene,” posits Ninvalle. Former amateur boxer, Terrence Poole, has been the lynchpin of the association so much so that he has been accused of engaging in matters that are somewhat conflicting. Mr. Ninvalle agrees that Mr. Poole has been tasked with varying responsibilities and some sections of the society have dubbed them as conflicting. However, the GBA President defended his colleague saying that Mr. Poole is an asset to the administration of the sport. He said that many persons seek executive positions on the committee but are reluctant and/or lax in addressing their mandates. “The volume of the work rests on just few shoulders so it is just natural to hear utterances of conflict of interest,” Mr.
Ninvalle pointed out. He said that he had toyed with many developmental ideas but is constrained by statutes in the constitution that dictate issues are addressed through a voting process. Notwithstanding, Mr. Ninvalle said that he cannot support an en bloc voting module since to his mind such a system could be deemed counter-productive since a wide cross section of views would be muzzled. “To my mind, such an eventuality would compromise the democratic process; I think that conflict and diversity is good for development provided it is done in a structured way,” he said. That apart, Mr. Ninvalle believes that the time is ripe for constitutional reforms in keeping with the new dispensation when the ruling body, AIBA, is contemplating strategic changes to their rules. The ruling organization plans to launch their own league of professional boxers who will be allowed to compete in the Olympics. While these issues are pertinent and while some of them will take centre stage at this afternoon’s forum, Mr. Ninvalle said that much attention will be placed on issues relating to the imminent Tri Nation championships which he refers to as the catalyst to the effective return of mass support to the boxing arena.