Hinds top fighter at Windies champs
June 9, 2012 · 0 Comments
DWAYNE HINDS was adjudged as the Best Overall Fighter as the West Indies Fighting Championships took place on June 1 and 2 in Martinique.
The Trinidad and Tobago squad returned home recently with a haul of seven medals — four gold and three silver, in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and grappling formats.
Jason Fraser, manager of the TT team and president of the Trinidad and Tobago Combat Sports Association (TTCSA), pointed out that Hinds, in the grappling category, defeated the experienced Yannif Jacet of France (who has over 560 fights on his belt) in the absolute final to be crowned the overall champion.
Erland George, the lone Tobago-born fighter on the national team, also took gold after whipping Brian Bhouri from Guyana in the final; Adam De Silva, in another final, prevailed over Nicholas Guyani from Guadeloupe while Joash Watkin triumphed in his final, over France’s Geoffroy Mayna.
In the K1 Division, for kick-boxers, Seon Adhar lost to Martinique’s Teddy Baubant, while Benito Timbert of Guadeloupe got the better of TT’s Donald Snaggs.
The most unfortunate result came in the Kerron Bourne-Marvin Dorain (France) final, with Bourne retiring 35 seconds before the end of the third and final round due to a hip injury.
“He couldn’t hold it out, and he was leading on all the scorecards,” said Fraser.
Concerning the immediate future of the national team, Fraser stated, “We’re heading off to the Virgin Islands (this) month. In July we’re heading off to Houston (in Texas).
“Then we’re heading to the Pan American Games in September, in Colombia (September 21),” he continued. “Then we’re off to the World Championships in Russia, in November.”
Fraser admitted that this West Indies Championships was a gauge to see which athletes can cope with the levels of future global tournaments.
“I was very pleased, as the president of the organisation, I was very impressed,” he said. “All kudos to our coach Rondell Benjamin who (took) his time and prepared this team. With proper facilities, I know we’ll be able to do much better.”
Fraser also made a plea to the Government to render assistance to some of the players in terms of finances for their training programmes.
Source: Newsday
By USPORTT Desk
Tags: Martial Arts, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
