Thirty national cricketers, including six women, will receive nearly $3m in elite athlete assistance from the Ministry of Sport. As a result of recent successes on the international stage, local cricketers were brought under the elite athlete funding scheme by the Honourable Anil Roberts, Minister of Sport, who says the grants to individual players are well-deserved and should contribute to improved preparation and performances on the pitch. Captain Daren Ganga says the funding will go a long way towards putting the players at ease while they train for upcoming international engagements. At the National Cricket Centre this week, the senior men's team went through cricket-specific strength and conditioning sessions with Vern Gambetta, a leading expert in the field. In other sporting news, the Ministry of Sport will also make a contribution to the development of local football with a grant of $200,000 to the TT Pro League, as well as support for last night's international boxing card-Night of Champions-to the tune of $103,000.
Lack of $$ stumps T&T's T20 preparations
Meanwhile, T&T's preparation for the Champions League T20 tournament later this year in India received a major setback yesterday with the cancellation of the Red Force participation in a warm-up tournament in Canada. The tournament,which would have involved hosts Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and 2010 World T20 finalists Afghanistan was scheduled for mid-August in Toronto but the T&T Cricket Board yesterday announced that they were forced to opt out due to financial constraints. President of the board Azim Bassarath said :"We submitted a budget for the national team's preparation for the Champions League and this was presented to the SporTT. "They have reduced it three times and as such the money received cannot go towards the kind of preparation the team needs for a tournament like that in India." Bassarath continued :"We have since sought help from the ministry of Sport and a note in now before cabinet and we are hoping for increased funding."
The T&TCB estimated that it would have cost close to $300,000 for the T&T team to play in the Tri-Nations tournament. T&T, by virtue of winning the 2011 Caribbean T20 Championships have qualified for the Champions League T20 but will have to play in a qualifying tournament to get into the main draw alongside five other teams from England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and India. The T&TCB had drawn up a programme of preparatory matches against worthy opponents leading up to the Champions League T20 and the Canada Tri Nations would have started the campaign in earnest. Following T&T's qualification for the Champions League T20 a budget was drafted and approaches were made to solicit the funds but to date no firm commitment has been forthcoming. Concerns were raised yesterday that another warm-up tournament, involving Caribbean rivals Guyana and Barbados slated for the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain in late August may also have to be shelved because of the lack of funds further placing T&T's Champions League T20 preparations in serious jeopardy.
Over the past weeks, the T&T cricketers have been involved in trial matches at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva but rain has seriously hampered onfield action. Nevertheless several noteworthy performances have caught the eyes of the national selectors. But the latest setback has placed a damper on the expectation that T&T would replicate their giant-killing act at the inaugural Champions League T20 in 2009 when they played unbeaten to reach the final eventually losing to New South Wales Blues of Australia. The team was captained by Daren Ganga and included Test players Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath; hard-hitting allrounder Kieron Pollard and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Last year Guyana represented the West Indies in the tournament.
National footballers no playing Haiti
Lack of money coming from SporTT is also affecting the T&T Football Federation (TTFF) as it is understood that the national senior team would not be keeping their date with Haiti on August 10 in that country. It is understood SporTT has informed the TTFF they have no money and will not be able to supply any until October. Guardian also got information that former special advisor Jack Warner has been approached but cannot assist at this point in time. Today in the draw for World Cup qualifying and national coach Otto Pfister would have gotten his first chance to see the foreign pros in action but the TTFF cannot afford to bring them in.