PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – New Sports Minister Brent Sancho was yesterday sworn into office, and has vowed to work to return pride into the sports discipline.
Speaking to reporters moments after the swearing-in ceremony, the former national footballer alluded to a number of objectives he had already pinpointed.
“I want to bring pride back into sports,” Sancho said.
“For the next couple months or however long my tenure might be, I want to make sure there is pride, and that [sports] is athletes driven and we get the right funding to our athletes so they represent our country in the right way.”
Sancho, who turns 38 next month, won over 40 caps for Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors, including representing them in their historic appearance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
He spent most of his professional career playing in the United States and the United Kingdom, before returning home to set up Central FC in the T&T Pro League.
Sancho, the third sports minister to be named in Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s cabinet, said he was looking forward to getting started.
“There will always be criticism but I will let my work be the judge for what I do,” he stressed.
“I’m absolutely thrilled by the appointment and I’m looking forward to getting the job started. As soon as I get out of Senate I will be starting to work right away.”
Former swim coach Anil Roberts served as Persad-Bissessar’s first sports minister before resigning last July amidst corruption allegations.
Science and Technology Minister, Dr Rupert Griffith, subsequently had the sports ministry added to his portfolio before being relieved of it earlier this week in a cabinet reshuffle.
