Some 21 schools will take part in the 26th an­nu­al West Zones Mi­lo Games sched­uled for to­mor­row at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Port-of-Spain. Mi­lo has pumped some $75,000 in­to the Games. West "A" and "B" Boys cham­pi­ons Care­nage Boys Gov­ern­ment and Di­a­mond Vale Gov­ern­ment and West "A" and "B" Girl's cham­pi­on Care­nage Girls Gov­ern­ment and Di­a­mond Vale Gov­ern­ment School, will be de­fend­ing their re­spec­tive crowns.

The Games, which has pro­duced some of the coun­try's top track and field ath­letes was of­fi­cial­ly launched last week, at the Har­vard Club, Tra­garete Road, with Milospon­sored World Ju­nior 400m hur­dles cham­pi­on Je­hue Gor­don in at­ten­dance to of­fer his sup­port. Kelvin Nan­coo, Games chair­man, pre­dict­ed the day will be com­pet­i­tive since any of three schools in the boys and girls cat­e­go­ry can take away the top prize, al­though ac­cord­ing to Nan­coo, the cham­pi­ons look very dif­fi­cult to de­throne. Nan­coo said: "From the look of Di­a­mond Vale, they will be ex­treme­ly dif­fi­cult to beat in both the boys and girls cat­e­go­ry."

Nan­coo joked that prin­ci­pal Sharon George has cleared an­oth­er area in her of­fice for the tro­phies which she be­lieves will go to her school on Tues­day evening. Main ri­vals Diego Mar­tin Gov­ern­ment and Diego Mar­tin Boys RC are like­ly to put up stern op­po­si­tion but it looks like Di­a­mond Vale Gov­ern­ment, which won the in­au­gur­al Games, will be dif­fi­cult to de­throne. Sports teacher Glen­da Miller is so con­fi­dent of vic­to­ry that she has al­ready bought a win­ner's ban­ner for the school. La Puer­ta Gov­ern­ment is the sleep­ing gi­ant and with prin­ci­pal Said Mo­hammed do­ing all in his pow­er to get his ath­lete in top gear, they may have a favourable Games for the first time in over a decade.

In the West A Zone, 12-time cham­pi­on Care­nage Girls Gov­ern­ment, mar­shalled by top coach Abe­y­ola Akowe, is set to fend off the at­tack of archri­val Mar­aval RC. Dun­ross Prepara­to­ry School, which has been knock­ing down the door, looks set for a big day and they may shock the cham­pi­ons. In the boys cat­e­go­ry, Care­nage have on­ly one se­ri­ous chal­lenger in Dun­ross. The event starts with a march past which will be judged by Reena Nan­coo, Bar­bara Lowhar and June Gar­diner. Mu­sic will be sup­plied by the T&T Po­lice Band. The Games start at 9.15 am.