T&T athletes rewarded with TT$5 million

By Stabroek News On In Sports |
Min­is­ter of Sport and Youth Af­fairs, Sham­fa Cud­joe presenting Keshorn Walcott with a copy of the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Sport 2017 – 2027
Min­is­ter of Sport and Youth Af­fairs, Sham­fa Cud­joe presenting Keshorn Walcott with a copy of the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Sport 2017 – 2027

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC – Olympic javelin champion Keshorn Walcott was among a group of athletes who received TT$5 million from the Trinidad Government for their outstanding performances at the recently concluded Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.

Triple gold medal­list cy­clist Nicholas Paul and shot put­ter Cleopa­tra Borel, were also among those who were rewarded on Wednesday at a function host­ed by the Min­is­ter of Sport and Youth Af­fairs, Sham­fa Cud­joe at the Na­tion­al Rac­quet Cen­tre in Tacarigua.

The event was also used to officially launch the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Sport 2017 – 2027 and was attended by T&T’s first Olympic gold medal­list Hase­ly Craw­ford, cricket legend Bri­an Lara and tal­ent­ed foot­baller Rus­sell Lat­apy.

In commending the athletes for their efforts, Cudjoe said the new National Policy on Sport ensured that national athletes for rewarded for their performances at regional and international meets.

“I am sur­round­ed by he­roes. It is my priv­i­lege and plea­sure to be here to launch the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Sports 2017-2027 as we recog­nise sport­ing ex­cel­lence with our na­tion­al ath­letes who would have medalled at the re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al Games,” Cudjoe said.

“The 2002 pol­i­cy fo­cused on the de­vel­op­ment of sport un­der two main ar­eas, to­tal par­tic­i­pa­tion in sport and high-per­for­mance sport. Though at the time the 2oo2 pol­i­cy was con­sid­ered to be holis­tic in its ap­proach to sports de­vel­op­ment, it was nev­er ful­ly im­ple­ment­ed.

“The na­tion­al pol­i­cy on sports 2017-2027 would have cap­i­talised on any de­fi­cien­cies iden­ti­fied with the pre­vi­ous pol­i­cy and rec­ti­fied. The new pol­i­cy adopts a com­pre­hen­sive and col­lab­o­ra­tive frame­work for ac­tion,” she added.

Cud­joe promised that her min­istry would en­sure that all in­di­vid­u­als and in­sti­tu­tions re­spon­si­ble for ser­vic­ing the needs of the sport were equipped with the nec­es­sary skills and com­pe­ten­cies.

Additionally, she said Cab­i­net had ap­proved the re­ward of na­tion­al teams which cre­ate his­to­ry by qual­i­fy­ing for their re­spec­tive World Cups for the first time, like the women’s se­nior vol­ley­ball team, which will make their de­but at the World Women’s Vol­ley­ball Cham­pi­onships in Japan lat­er this year.