TRINIDAD and Tobago’s top two pairs will be in action from today when the 2015 NORCECA (North, Central America and the Caribbean) Beach Volleyball Tour resumes with the second leg in the Dominican Republic.

Fabian Whitfield and Daneil Williams also contested the opening leg in Cayman Islands two months ago, but Ayana Dyette and Makila Davidson will be making their seasonal bow at the level.

The three-day tournament takes on additional significance for the quartet. It will be their final competitive preparation for next month’s Pan American Games in Canada. The two pairs competed in a tournament on the world tour a couple weeks ago in Florida, USA, but failed to make it to the main draw.

Early last month, Williams and Whitfield led T&T to the gold medal in the CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) Beach Championships and a place in the second round of regional qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

Dyette and Davidson only started playing together in March and are unbeaten from five tournaments at home.

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Some of the best quartermilers in the world will be on show at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain this evening, in the qualifying round of the NGC-Sagicor NAAA (National Association of Athletics Administrations) Open Track and Field Championship men's 400 metres event.

Reigning world junior champion Machel Cedenio, the third fastest man in the world this year at 44.36 seconds, heads the cast. More than 40 men will bid for lanes in tomorrow's “A” and “B” finals.

Nineteen-year-old Cedenio should have no problems advancing, and is likely to be joined in the “A” final by double Olympic bronze medallist Lalonde Gordon, reigning champion Renny Quow, and Jarrin Solomon.

Missing from the men's one-lap start list are Deon Lendore and Jereem Richards. Lendore is injured, and will not compete at the Championships.

National record holder Janeil Bellille opens the defence of her women's 400m title this evening.

Bellille dominated her rivals last year, completing her lap of the track in 51.83 seconds to erase a 16-year-old Trinidad and Tobago standard from the books. Though her fastest time this season, 52.95, is more than a second slower, Bellille is the class of the field and would fancy her chances of producing another golden run in tomorrow's final.

Romona Modeste, Magnolia Howell, Alena Brooks and Jessica James are expected to be the main contenders for Bellille's title. Only Modeste in that quartet has dived under 54 seconds this season, the veteran quartermiler having clocked 53.98 to strike gold at the Falcon Games on March 29.

Once she is anywhere close to her best, gold looks guaranteed for Bellille.

Wayne Davis II and Mikel Thomas are also expected to be on show at the Crawford Stadium today.

Davis is the defending men's 110m hurdles champion, but Thomas is the favourite. On April 18, Thomas produced a 13.32 seconds run at the Mt SAC Relays in California, USA, and has also clocked 13.39, 13.44 and 13.47 this season. Davis, on the other hand, has struggled for form. His best 2015 clocking is 13.59 seconds.

The opening round of the men's 100m event will be contested today. But with the top five sprinters earning byes into the semis, reigning champion Richard “Torpedo” Thompson, Keston Bledman, Rondel Sorrillo, Emmanuel Callender and Marcus Duncan will not face the starter until tomorrow.

Darrel Brown, the 2003 IAAF World Championship silver medallist, and top junior Jonathan Farinha, however, will compete this evening.

Veteran sprinter Marc Burns is injured, and will not see action at the Championships. And 22-year-old Jamol James was not entered.

In the women's 100m, last year's winner Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Reyare Thomas, Kamaria Durant and Semoy Hackett have received byes into the semis, and will not run in today's preliminary round.

The hammer throw titles will be decided this evening. The men's field is likely to include national record holder Emmanuel Stewart.

Action at the Crawford Stadium today is scheduled to start at 5.30pm with the men's 10,000m event, featuring Kenyan Kenneth Rotich.

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Michelle-Lee Ahye and Kelly-Ann Baptiste will square off for Ahye's women's 100 metres title, at this weekend's NGC-Sagicor NAAA (National Association of Athletics Administrations) Open Track and Field Championships.

Though she was not the first sprinter to cross the finish line at the 2013 edition of the meet, Ahye is actually chasing a hat-trick of national 100m titles.

Two years ago, it was Baptiste who got home first. However, she subsequently received a doping ban, and many of her 2013 performances were scratched from the books, including the 10.83 seconds national record run that earned her gold at the Trinidad and Tobago Championships.

Ahye finished second to Baptiste in that race in 11.06, and was promoted to the top spot following her rival's disqualification.

Last year, Ahye enjoyed a conventional triumph, striking gold in 10.88 seconds. On Saturday, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, she will bid for her third century title on the trot.

Based on her early-season form, Ahye will go into the Championships as the favourite. On March 28, the Texas-based sprinter won the Texas Relays women's invitational 100m dash in a wind-assisted 10.87 seconds.

But the performance that signalled a warning to the world's sprint elite came five days later, at the Florida Relays, where Ahye won in 10.97, in spite of a 2.5 metres per second headwind. There's a question mark, however, over her fitness. On May 30, at the Prefontaine Classic IAAF Diamond League meet, in Oregon, USA, the 23-year-old athlete was injured during the 100m event, and finished eighth in 11.90 seconds. She has not competed since. Baptiste was sixth in that race in 11.08.

If there is anyone who can capitalise on a chink in Ahye's armour, it is Baptiste. This weekend, the 2011 World Championship 100m bronze medallist will compete on home soil for the first time since completing her 21-month drug ban on January 23. All eyes at the Crawford Stadium will be on Baptiste, who clocked an impressive 10.98 seconds in her 100m season-opener on April 24. In mid-May, she produced an 11-flat run. And 12 days ago, the 28-year-old track star finished third at the adidas Grand Prix IAAF Diamond League meet in New York, USA in 11.19.

The T&T Championship women's century will feature another athlete on the comeback trail following a doping ban. Semoy Hackett's 28-month suspension ended on April 30. Based on her 22.81 seconds 200m run in Florida on June 6, Hackett will challenge for honours this weekend.

Like Baptiste, a drug ban cost Hackett a national 100m title. Back in 2011, she grabbed gold in a wind-aided 11 seconds flat. However, Hackett tested positive for Methylhexaneamine at the T&T Championships, and was handed a six-month ban. Methylhexaneamine was also the illegal stimulant that led to Hackett's more recent suspension.

Kai Selvon, the 2011 women's 100m runner-up, was upgraded to gold. Selvon is not expected to make a bid for the title in 2015. She is recovering from an injury, and has requested an exemption from the NAAA. Selvon has to prove her fitness before being considered for selection on the national teams for the July 10-26 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada and the August 22-30 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.

In addition to Ahye, Baptiste and Hackett, Saturday's NGC-Sagicor NAAA Open Track and Field Championship women's 100m final is likely to feature Kamaria Durant and Reyare Thomas.

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CHANGE IS coming to the way sport is introduced and developed in the country, and the key element will not be the Sports Ministry, but rather the Ministry of Education. Speaking with Newsday yesterday afternoon, Minister of Sport Brent Sancho confirmed that there is to be a new approach in seeking sporting excellence from the country’s talented athletes in every sport, but he also emphasised that most of what is being contemplated is still in the early stages of planning.

It was previously reported that Sport Ministry personnel, including coaches and sport officers had already been transferred to the Ministry of Education, and that morale was low as a result. Minister Sancho admitted changes were in the making, but he denied any major move had yet been made, saying plans were still being discussed and formulated. “That is not yet decided, but logistically, we would want that (coaches etc going to the Education Ministry),” he said.

“Everything is still at the embryonic stage. Sometimes change would bring fears, anxieties... but we have to start somewhere.”

Sancho said the concept of Education taking over certain aspects of operations that normally fall under the purview of the Sports ministry was born out of the need to meet the country’s athletic talent at an earlier age. “We are on the cusp of a ground-breaking formula. Our objective is to get closer contact with primary school students to play more sport,” he said, adding that as a result, the youngsters would benefit from advanced training in their chosen disciplines.

Among the initiatives would be the development of coaching programmes that would take young athletes from primary to secondary school. “We are not catching the athletes at a young enough age, before they develop bad habits,” the minister explained. Sancho confirmed that as a result, there would eventually be a transfer of personnel to the Education Ministry, but the method was a long way from being worked out. “We got Cabinet approval to set up a steering committee to guide us through the process.” He also confirmed that a sporting academy was to be established; asked whether the University of Trinidad and Tobago would be involved, he answered, “It definitely won’t be part of UTT; it would be something separate and apart. How I envisage it, we would start at a very young age.” Sancho expressed his personal conviction that this is the way forward for the country’s sporting future. “We have to recognise that sport is now a legitimate career path,” he concluded.

Each year on June 23^rd, over 200 National Olympic Committees from around the world join together to celebrate the birth of the Modern Olympic Games. This year, the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) commemorates the Olympic Movement at Olympic House from the 23^rd to 26^th June 2015.

Today (23^rd June 2015), the TTOC will open its doors to the public to come learn more about the Olympic Movement and Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic history.

From the 24^th to 26^th June, the TTOC will host Preschool and Primary School children from Trinidad and Tobago with the aim to promote fitness, well being, culture and education, while promoting the Olympic values – excellence, friendship and respect – and the three Olympic Day pillars – move, learn and discover.

The children will engage in playground games, learn about the Olympic Movement and T&T’s Olympic History and discover our Elite Athletes and the vision of achieving #10Golds24 (10 or more Gold medals by the year 2024).

This year’s celebration will also have the inclusion of the Drama Making A Difference (DMAD) Company who will use the medium of drama and theatre arts to educate the children about the Olympic Movement and the values.

The tradition of the Olympic Day has a long history. This event was timed to coincide with the date of June 23, 1894, when Pierre de Coubertin and his supporters have revived the Olympic Games and created the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  The First World Olympic Day was celebrated on June 23, 1948.

The TTOC expresses thanks to Guardian Group, Lisa Communications, BPTT, Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago House of Assembly, Columbus Communications, Flavourite Ice Cream, Blue Waters and Bermudez for being apart of Olympic Day 2015.