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NIGEL SIMONSenior Multimedia Reporter
The national junior cycling team sprint trio of Kafele De Sormeaux, Cristian Nelson, and Zion Lucas’ hopes of defending T&T’s team sprint title at the Junior Pan American Championships in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, ended before they even set foot abroad after the request for funding by the T&T Cycling Federation to the Sport Company of T&T (SPORTT) was turned down.
On Saturday, the trio, along with fellow cyclists Shameka Hoyte and Kylee Young, Sheryl Leacock (manager), Sheldon Ramjot (mechanic),
Antonia Isaac-Nelson, the mother of Nelson, posted on her Facebook page on Saturday her hurt after the team was withdrawn from participation. She stated, “This is one of the most hurtful posts as a parent I have to make. To my son Cristian Nelson, we saw all your hard work, all the sacrifices, and the crash that you had in Skinner Park that could have turned out differently 2 weeks before assessment / trials to make the national team for Junior Panam in Mexico. Your bike was completely destroyed, yet still you defied all odds and bounced back with a PB superseding the qualifying time of 10.8. Less than 2 weeks ago you did that, son. Your dream came true; you made the national team, all bags packed, ready to make the red, black and white proud to leave to represent your country, only to be told you are not going again because the people who are supposed to be looking out for the youths decided that you and your teammates are not worthy to represent it. Mere hours before you leave, no funding, no release.
No, we prefer the elites over the juniors; those were many unclear reasons that we got from all entities, but the end result is that they say no to you all.
To the community who supported Cristian and me and all the other cyclists who are going to continue to support them. We are truly disappointed and hurt. Cristian, your talent is on a different level. And when God says yes, no man can say no. You will be ok, and this is for all the other teammates as well.”
Gregory Dandrade, a long-serving T&TCF official and chairman of the Racing Committee of the T&TCF, confirmed for Guardian Media Sports that the team was withdrawn from the competition at the last minute after they were informed on Thursday by sports official and former national women’s volleyball player Courtnee-Mae Clifford that their request for funding was not approved.
Dandrade said, “We submitted our request for the funding of the team of five cyclists and three officials almost four months ago with the figure being close to $200,000, so our budget was sent to Sport well in advance of the event as part of submitting criteria for all our major competitions for national teams.”
He added, “And the team was due to leave on Saturday morning (May 2), but at the last minute we were informed that we would not be getting the funds, as the budget was not approved for us. It’s really heartbreaking because the young cyclists have made a number of sacrifices to have a chance to defend their title and bring glory to the country, even getting their exams rescheduled, but now all their hard work and efforts have gone down the drain.”
Last year, the trio of Jelani Nedd, Javon Ramroop and Judah Neverson won the team sprint event in Lima, Peru, defeating Colombia’s Martin Gomez, Juan Jose Palacio and Camilo Yara Juan in the final, clocking a nippy 46.061 seconds to claim top position.
In the process, the Trinidad and Tobago team set a new national junior team sprint record.
Up to press time, the email request sent to SporTT for the reasons behind its decision to not grant the funding for the team to attend the championship was still forthcoming even though it was sent by 1 pm to their [email protected] email address.
In July 2025, Trinidad and Tobago’s men’s and women’s hockey teams missed participating in the Pan Am Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay, from July 24 to August 3 after the T&T Hockey Board failed to secure financial support from SporTT.
The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, led by Sports Minister Phillip Watts, had stated that the reason that no funding was released for the teams was because of the T&T Hockey Board – “non-compliance in submitting audited financial statements on time.”
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