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week ending September 19, 2013 | www.caribbeantimesinternational.com
Shelly-Ann gives back to Jamaica
Sprint Queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (c) poses with the seven Pocket Rocket Foundation awardees (l-r) Carlton Collins, Brenton Bartley, Tahjia Lumley, Kimone Shaw, Shavar Scott, Rojaire Bingham, and Jovaine Atkinson. (Bryan Cummings/Jamaica Observer photo)
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even high school student athletes in Jamaica received scholarship grants from celebrated Jamaican sprint queen ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce during a presentation ceremony at Devon House in Kingston, Tuesday. The grants, valued at more than Ja$100,000 each, will go towards the students' tuition, lunch money and other costs associated with their schooling. The grants were a part of Fraser-Pryce's effort to assist Jamaican student athletes through
her Pocket Rocket Foundation. In handing over the scholarships, FraserPryce urged the students to believe in their ability to excel in the fields of academics and sports as they grew into productive citizens. "Whatever you want in this life you can achieve if you just believe. You have to make sacrifices," Fraser-Pryce said. The Pocket Rocket Foundation is supported by her major Corporate Sponsors Nike, Sagicor and Grace Foods. (Jamaica Observer)
Guyana’s women team competes for the... from back page
Cup Qualifier. From their lowly ranked position of 18th in the Americas in 2010, Guyana now finds itself among the region’s elite teams as they enter the PAHF Cup seeded the lowest of eight teams. The competition includes world beaters Argentina (ranked 2 in the world), USA (10), Chile (18), Canada (23), Trinidad (27), Mexico (30), Uruguay (50) and Guyana (58). Guyana finds itself in pool A with pretournament favourites Argentina, Canada and Trinidad. The Guyana team will conduct some light training on the artificial pitch until their first match against Canada on Saturday. Guyana will then face Trinidad on September 22 and Argentina on September 24 to complete the pool round. Asked about Guyana’s expectations, Fernandes indicated that the top teams in the competition were beyond the reach of the others. In his opinion winning a medal in this competition would not be a realistic objective
as there are world class teams in the competition who train twice per day on artificial pitches with a professional coaching staff of several persons. Fernandes opined that the Guyanese team needed to aim toward securing wins against some of their opponents in an effort to continue its upward drive and improve its global ranking. “Rome was not built in a day,” remarked Fernandes, adding “so we need to improve incrementally, especially given our severe handicap of not having proper hockey facilities in Guyana”. Full squad: Alysa Xavier, Ulrica Sutherland, Tiffany Solomon, Marisha Rodrigues, Vanessa Pires, Trisha Woodroffe, Marzana Fiedtkou, Leigh Sandison, Ashley DeGroot, Chantelle Fernandes (Captain), Gabriella Xavier, Kerensa Fernandes, Samantha Fernandes, Cora Towler, Aliyah Gordon and Janella Munroe. The Manager is Rawl Davson, Coach Philip Fernandes and Assistant Coach Peter DeGroot.
Sunil Narine keen on challenge
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- as TT’s Red Force ready for battle in India
op Trinidad and Tobago off-spinner Sunil Narine is keen on the challenges, which will face the national T20 cricket team, dubbed the Red Force at the forthcoming Champions League T20 tournament in India. At a recent function at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair, Narine said, “I’ll like to do good for Trinidad and hopefully we can give a good showing of ourselves. “It’s the last time that Trinidad will probably be in the tournament so everyone is keen to giving a good performance of themselves.” The 25-year-old, rated atop the world rankings in the T20 format, was asked what areas of his bowling he’s working on. “Just doing the basics right and continue doing what I have been doing,” Narine replied. Concerning the team’s expectations, he noted, “I think we’ve always given a good showing of ourselves. It’s just to continue doing the good work that we’ve been doing. And I think the guys are really keen for this tournament.” And, for himself, “I haven’t really set specific goals, but whatever the
A smiling Navin Stewart gets some assistance from teammate Samuel Badree to fix his tie at Piarco on Monday. The players were preparing to leave for London with the TT Red Force. (Abraham Diaz/TT Guardian photo)
team requires me to do, I’ll try to do it.” One of the newer faces on the TT team is wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran, who made a name for himself at the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL). “It’s a challenge for me going to school and (playing) cricket, but my main focus right now is to do my best,” he said. As far as the Champions League is concerned, “I just want
to go there and do the best of my ability, perform and hopefully get a contract somewhere, you never know.” Pooran has had experience in India, having visited with the Trinidad and Tobago Schoolboys team earlier this year. “I’ve been to India earlier this year,” he said. “The experience was great, not only cricket-wise, but the way the people live.” A hard-hitting lefthander, he admitted that
he will be focusing on consistency, and shot selection, in India. The Red Force 15man squad left for India Monday ahead of the 2013 Twenty20 Champions League, which bowled off Tuesday. TT, captained by Denesh Ramdin, will play their opening match of the main draw on Sunday against the Brisbane Heat at the JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi. (Excerpt from TT Newsday)
Blairmont lad cops Cricketerof-the-Year award in Berbice
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l l - r o u n d er Deveshwari Prashad was voted Blairmont Centre Cricket Club (BCCC) Cricketer-of-the-Year when the West Bank Berbice entity held its second annual awards ceremony last Thursday evening in Guyana. At the event, the executive of the club honoured outstanding players and some cricket enthusiasts for their contributions to the game. However, the lion’s share of last Thursday night’s awards went to 18-year-old Kevon Jawahir, who copped the bowler-of-the-year, allrounder, junior cricketer-of-the-year and emerging player-of-theyear prizes. The packed auditorium, inclusive of Region Five Chairman, Bindrabhan Bisnauth, officials of the Berbice Cricket Board, club members, sponsors and other cricket officials, club president, Shabeer Baksh, was told that the
Deveshwari Prashad (right) collets the Cricketer-ofthe Year trophy from President of the BCCC Shabeer Baksh. In the background is Hilbert Foster
period January 2012 to July 2013 was a successful one, despite numerous challenges faced by the organisation. “The club is definitely on the upward side since its resuscitation in 2010. This club has risen to ratings of being unmatched by any other club in the West Berbice area and has been amongst some of the better clubs in Berbice. The period 2012/ 2013 has been a successful year, both on and off field,” Baksh said. He said he was pleased to see the young
budding cricketers of the club, and urged those who were not honoured this year, to strive to be there next year. Guest speaker Bindrabhan Bisnauth, praised the BCCC on its remarkable achievements since the club was resuscitated, calling it a model organization, which every other club and national sport organisation should emulate. The Regional Chairman advised the younger members of the club that discipline is the foundation of suc-
cess and that no sports person has ever been successful without discipline. Meanwhile, Jawahir, speaking on behalf of the awardees, said that being a member of the BCCC was a special privilege. He outlined that the club not only develops cricketers, but well-rounded individuals with special emphasis on discipline and personal development. He expressed gratitude to the management of the club for its recognition of his and his peers’ contribution, pledging that they will strive for better. The club also presented four retired teachers and cricketers for their outstanding contribution to the club. Those awardees were teachers, Bibi Ishak, Koearlall Rambarran, Rudolph Muckunlall and Thofa Alexander; the former cricketers were Hazrat Saqid, Zalim Khan, Moses Shamlall and Adrian Amsterdam. (Guyana Times)