June 4 - 10, 2011
TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
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CONCACAF Opening Round:
Bahamas positive against the TCI – BFA chief says overseas players will be key THE BAHAMAS football team is behind the Turks and Caicos Islands on the FIFA rankings, but that does not stop the players from feeling confident about their home-andaway series against our national male football team. The two sides will battle it out in July to see who will advance to the first round of the CONCACAF Qualifiers. The opening game according to FIFA will take place on July 2 in TCI while the return clash will be in the Bahamas on July 9. Teams are playing according to their rankings. The preliminary round will be with teams ranked from 26-35 in the region. The TCI team is ranked 30 while its opponent is one higher. The other teams within that range are: the Dominican Republic, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Aruba, Belize and Montserrat. VICTIMS OF PREPARATION Anton Sealey, president of the Bahamas Football Association, told the Tribune on that island chain that
“with a majority of their players based outside of The Bahamas the team will once again face issues in terms of preparation.” “We are always the victim of preparation and an inability to prepare properly and adequately because most of our players are abroad and it’s very costly and almost impossible for us to assemble them for an extended period of time to train. So we end up just having them for brief periods of time together before an actual competition.” Sealey is, however, confident about his squad which consists of US-based collegiate and professional players. “Fortunately, we are coming to the end of the school year so most of the US-based players will become available to us. One or two of them who are playing professionally, Cameron Hepple and Happy Hall for example, they are in season now with their teams so they will only be available to us the weekend of the matches so we do not have any opportunity for the other guys to
The Beach Soccer Ballers claimed an extra time win to lift the championship trophy in the TCIFA Women’s Beach Soccer League.
prepare with them, but we do expect them to be a part of the team and be available to us for both games,” he told the local newspaper. The Bahamas Football Association president feels that his side can get past TCI. “I fully expect that we will get beyond the Turks and Caicos. Into the second round, it will depend on
who we draw in that round. We have improved our standing in terms of our ability in the region so I think we are in that second tier in the region. So it depends on who we draw, but I expect this team will do well.” LOCAL CONFIDENCE Our players are no walkovers. The Turks and Caicos Islands Football
Association has invested its energy on youth development and the results are obvious at the local level, with the youngsters making their mark in the Men’s Football League. Most of these young players have made the transformation to the senior level. With that in mind the Technical Director Matthew Green is also optimistic about an overall win. “We are confident that the men will compete well and stand a good chance of progressing.”
Graceway Tennis Tournament:
Ono is number one again – Grandsire still top female YOSHI Ono re-captured the title as men’s singles champion when he got past Ingo Reckhorn in the Graceway Tennis Tournament earlier this week at the Graceway Sports Centre. Ono, who had lost to Elise Crozier in the previous tournament, braved through play hampered by rain to add the men’s doubles title to his belt. He teamed with Doug Carlson to get past Reckhorn and partner John Zammit. That match was
broken during the first set due to rain with Reckhorn and Zammit up 7-6. After a break to wait out the short rainfall, Ono and Carlson came back with vengeance to take the win 9-7. On the women’s side, reigning champ Kelcy Grandsire confidently defended her title against Denise Douglas, who landed in second place. Rain forced the tournament which served off on May 20th to conclude
Yoshi Ono claimed victory in the men’s singles and he successfully teamed up with Doug Carlson in the men’s double. (Photo submitted)
10 days later. “The level of tennis was great to see. We can see the improvement of the players with each tournament,” said head coach at the centre Rey Garcia. “It is also very encouraging for us to see the tournaments growing each time.” The juniors, however, stole the show as they again impressed both spectators and the coach. Juniors doubles champions Ben Levy and Niv Itzhak held off Rodrigo Vazquez & Gabriel DiotteJoly to defend their title. Whereas the junior singles final was a nailbitter to the finish between 11-yearold Vazquez and Tristan Green. Vazquez was leading 6-0, but Greene fought his way back to tie it up 6-6, before Vazquez bounced back to win 8-6. Garcia pointed out that: “Many of the youths have been training over past months, [and are] showing great improvement.” The aim of the tournament, the second for 2011, is to increase the interest and participation in the sport of tennis on the island. Since he joined the Graceway Sports Centre in 2010, Garcia has hosted a tournament each quarter of the year. The coach is now offering free tennis lessons for juniors every Saturday. “I see so many young players with talent, and I want to help develop them through this programme,” he said. The tournament was sponsored by: Amanyara Villas, Java Island, AIB, Yoshi Sushi Bar, JSD internet café, Total Rent a Car and the United Consultant Immigration.