WALTER ALIBEY
Jamaican Olympic diver Yona Knight-Wisdom made a huge impact on the T&T public on Friday night as the opening of the Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva was done with much fanfare.
Born and raised in the city of Leeds in northern England, Knight-Wisdom struggled to make it onto the British team but turned up for Jamaica at the just concluded Rio Olympics and advanced to the semi-final after finishing 11th in the preliminaries. On Friday he gave a series of impressive demonstrations on diving off the three-metre springboard, the five-metre platform and the 10 metre platform.
Afterwards he told the gathering he would like to assist in developing a programme that the entire Caribbean, including T&T would benefit from in the future.
The 21-year old later thanked the appreciative crowd, that included Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith, Chinese Ambassador to T&T Huang Xingyuan and Jason Pendergrast, the Jamaican High Commissioner, Chairman of the Sports Company of T&T Michael Phillip and other dignitaries and supporters.
Later Smith urged all to treat the facility as their own, stressing the need to maintain the facility which will be a key tool as government focuses on sports tourism. He thanked the Chinese contractor for the work done in the construction and delivery of such as state-of-the art aquatic centre that will be used as an income-generating mechanism, through rentals for wedding and other engagements, as well as numerous sporting events.
Smith who made it clear of his intentions to ensure the development of all sports, said he is presently working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China, that will enable Chinese coaches to come here and work with local divers, swimmers, waterpolo teams etc.
President of Amateur Swimming Association of T&T Joseph Mc Leod said he will place much emphasis on ensuring that Chinese coaches can come here to work with locals, should he be re-elected at October 14th Annual General Meeting and Election of Officers of the ASATT.
Smith later called for a free and fair election, saying the facilities will be blessed for all to use.