Caribbean Sports Round-Up – Sports Stars Step Up To Help Aid Hurricane Relief Efforts

From left, president of Queen’s Park Cricket Club, Deryck Murray; Chief Executive Officer of SporTT, Dinanath Ramnarine; West Indies selector, Lockhart Sebastien, GM Retail and Commercial Banking – First Citizens, Robin Lewis and member of the LOC, Colin Murray at a press conference for the Hurricane Relief Charity T20 tournament.

News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Fri. Oct. 20, 2017: Some of the Caribbean’s sports stars are stepping up to the plate to help the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

In Trinidad on Sat. Oct. 14th, a near sold-out crowd shelled out TT $100 each to pack the stands at the Queen’s Park Oval for a relief cricket match.

The Red Force took on a Caribbean Select XI in a Hurricane Relief T20.

And while the Red Force despite the likes of Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne and Darren Bravo, fell by 11 runs in a gung-ho chase of 218 for victory, the goal of the event was well worth it.

Colin Murray, a member of the Local Organizing Committee, said he is optimistic they will meet their goal of raising TT $1 million to help the hurricane ravaged islands.

The cricket relief match comes as several Olympians and professional athletes are also raising money and awareness to aid relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico-born Rio 2016 gold medalist Monica Puig is seeking donations to help Puerto Rico recover from consecutive hurricanes and has so far raised US $132,877 at www.youcaring.com/donatewithmonica.

Former NBA basketball player Tim Duncan also used YouCaring to raise over US $2.6 million to help in the reconstruction of his native U.S. Virgin Islands.

Meanwhile, NBA Dallas Mavericks point guard Jose Juan Barea, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, Olympic runner Andrés Arroyo and former tennis player Gigi Fernandez are other famous athletes from Puerto Rico who have also joined in the recovery efforts.

Fernandez, who had represented Puerto Rico when San Juan hosted the Pan American Games in 1979, donated $50,000 through the YouCaring website.

Molina last week delivered bags of ice and bottles of water to residents in the northern part of the island, including his hometown of Vega Alta while Barea was given the use of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s private plane to take supplies to his native island. Barea had begun raising money to help the relief efforts and raised over US $240,000. The Mavericks’ plane was loaded with water, generators, food and lots of other necessities that were to be distributed throughout Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, the US Equestrian, Equestrian Canada, the Pan American Equestrian Confederation (PAEC), and the Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation (CIEF) have banded together and are jointly spearheading an effort to fund, source, and ship horse feed and vital equine medical supplies to those Caribbean islands that have been devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

One 40-foot container can feed about 40 to 50 horses for two to three weeks and the group is fundraising to ship containers to the islands because ther is an urgent need for hay and feed, potable water, veterinary care, vet supplies, fencing, and portable stalls.

“The damage to buildings and infrastructure, meanwhile, will take years to repair,” the group said in a statement. “The horses on the USVI islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, on Puerto Rico, and on other islands are in grave need of help. While the human toll is massive, we cannot forget our equine partners, whose situation is also both dire and immediate.”

Support the effort here.

World Cup Tickets Are A Hot Commodity

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is still some 8 months away but tickets are already a hot commodity. Since 14 September: 3,496,204 tickets have been requested.

Most of the applications have come from Russia, while international demand accounts for more than 30 per cent. German, Brazilian, Argentinian, Mexican, US, Colombian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Polish fans all rank in the top 10, while around 150,000 tickets have been requested for the Opening Match and more than 300,000 for the Final.

All successful, partially successful and unsuccessful applicants will be duly notified of the outcome of their applications by November 16, 2017.

Ticket sales resume on November 16th.

Only 9 spots are yet to be filled at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Hosts Russia have been joined by Brazil, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Germany, England, Spain, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Poland, Egypt, Iceland, Serbia, France, Portugal, Panama, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina.