Pan American champion Osleni Guerrera was among the 12-person Cuban contingent, who worked alongside the T&T Badminton Association (TTBA) during a three-week athlete and coaching training programme, which concluded last Friday at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena.
Working alongside the association, Ministry of Sport, which initiated the project, together with badminton specialist coach and multiple national champion Solangel Guzman.
The programme consisted of training sessions for both national badminton athletes and coaches of all levels, in which there were exchanges of technical, and tactical information as well as nutrition and physiological based information.
Guzman, the project co-ordinator said that she was quite pleased with the programme's turnout and is hopeful that there can be a continuation in the future with this venture as it can only seek to improve the level of badminton in this country. Manager of the Cuban delegation and general secretary of the Cuban Badminton Federation Alexis Ramirez thanked the Ministry of Sport and the TTBA for their commitment to the project as well as the wonderful hospitality experienced throughout the course of the programme. "We expect that the experiences of this programme will sincerely contribute to the improvement of badminton in T&T, and that the athletes will attain better standards of play and performance," said Ramirez.
"And, we are also quite willing to continue working with T&T for the benefit of the sport in the country." Many players, as well as badminton enthusiasts took the opportunity to witness high quality badminton skills displayed by the Cuban athletes, who are undoubtedly some of the best badminton players in the Pan American region. The project is the first of its kind for the TTBA and the players seemed content with the opportunity that was presented to them.
Acting TTBA president Derwin Renales said he was pleased with the results of the event.