Special Olympians impress
Newsday
Thursday, October 11 2007
DIGICEL, Trinidad and Tobago, Chief Executive Officer, Niall Dorrian has hailed what he calls a splendid show of talent by the local team taking part in the Special Olympics in Shanghai, China.
The team has been taking part in various events but over the weekend they impressed with their show of commitment and skill.
Off the field, or rather out of the pool, Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago (SOTT) swimmer Roberto Marquis grabbed the spotlight at the Shanghai Airlines Travel Hotel.
A television crew along with a team of medical personnel moved in to examine the special bed which had been requested in advance by SOTT and provided by the Games Organising Committee for Marquis.
Medical personnel wanted to be sure that the bed was carrying out its function of alleviating his sleep apnea. Marquis who is an athlete with Downs Syndrome happily reported that he was sleeping comfortably.
On the field of play, SOTT enjoyed more success in another action packed day as the athletes went into competition in the sport of Bocce, Football and Volleyball.
In seven7-a-side football, SOTT defeated Ivory Coast 5-0 at the Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Centre.
Jayon Brathwaite gave SOTT the lead and Shane Legerton extended the lead minutes before the break to take teams to the half 2-0. As a result of the Ivory Coast’s quest for goals in the second half SOTT was able to score on the break through Clint Samuel.
Shane Legerton and Jayon Brathwaite added to the tally to ease the pressure from the battling Ivory Coast.
SOTT’s volleyballers lost their first match to Peru 1-2. The scores were 19-25, 25-22 and 13-15. However, SOTT was able to bounce back and defeat Cuba 2-1 later in the evening.
Scores read 25-13, 22-25 and 15-6. Russia lead the group with two wins; SOTT, Cuba and Peru each have one win. Indoor competitions continued at the Zhaibei Gymnasium and Carlon Campbell led the way for the SOTT delegation in grabbing three bronze medals in Powerlifting.
Campbell, competing in the 75kg Weight Class was able to capture two bronze medals and a fourth place ribbon with lifts in the Squat, Bench Press and Dead-lift respectively.
The weights of the three lifts were then combined for the Overall or Combination Category. Campbell first captured bronze in the Squat with a maximum lift of 95 kg. He then went on to repeat with bronze in the Bench Press with a weight of 67.5 kg. In the Dead-lift Competition, he was able to exert sufficient pressure on Krzysztof Linek of Poland, to force Linek to attempt a lift of 130 kg.
Linek who was mounting a bold challenge for silver in the Dead lift and bronze in the Overall Category, was unsuccessful with this lift, and while beating Carlon to bronze in the Dead-Lift, had to settle for fourth place in the Overall Category. Campbell was ecstatic in adding the Overall Bronze to his tally.
Shanghai’s early evening was then stirred by the sweet strains of soca music at an informal celebration by the SOTT Delegation for two of its athletes. Gaitrie Rampersad and Yatendra Singh both celebrated their birthdays today and the rest of the delegation decided to surprise them with cake and soca. The pulsating soca music soon drew the attention of curious onlookers and a TV crew who were eager to join in on the fun and experience Trinidad and Tobago’s music and dance.
This fulfills the mission of Special Olympics which is to enable children and adults with intellectual disabilities, to experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community at the Games. This performance has prompted Digicel Trinidad and Tobago CEO Dorrian to congratulate all of the athletes who are participating in the Shanghai Games.
“Every single athlete on that team should be proud of their participation and the stellar job they have done representing Trinidad and Tobago on the World Stage. We at Digicel congratulate them on their thrilling and world class performance, and pledge our continued support,” he said.
(AP)
Athletes make Digicel proud
Newsday
Thursday, October 11 2007
TRINIDAD and Tobago’s representatives at the 2007 World Summer Games in Shanghai, China continue to make a good impression.
Both the football and volleyball teams recently competed in preliminary rounds.
In the morning period, the SOTT 7-a-side football team beat Latvia by 2-1. Both goals were scored by Shane Legerton. In the evening period, SOTT beat Romania 3 - 0. Goals were scored by Lenford LaVende, Dane Pitt and Shane Legerton.
The volleyballers had an action-packed day in which they faced China, India, and Mexico respectively in preliminary matches. SOTT beat these three teams convincingly.
Over at the Shanghai Pudong Natatorium, swimmers Krystal Huggins and Keron Lopez competed in their preliminary rounds.
Lopez placed first in his heat in the 50m freestyle, and was 24th-placed overall of 112 swimmers. He returned to the water one hour later to win his preliminary heat in the 25m breaststroke, and place fifth overall of 22 swimmers. Huggins who is hearing impaired, faced some disadvantage in her heat when strobe lights or other visual signals which are used for hearing -impaired athletes were not available. She got off to a bad start but recovered to place third in her heat, and sixth overall of 90 swimmers.
This incident caused Coach Stephen Telfer to lodge an official protest with the Games Organising Committee. After completion of preliminary rounds athletes in all sports are grouped according to ability levels, and compete in finals against teams of similar ability levels.
The 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games end in Shanghai today. Digicel Marketing Director, Sacha Thompson said, “We are proud to see our Special Olympics team performing well on the global stage and are really proud that the athletes are putting out one hundred percent in the games.”
