PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Olympic javelin champion Keshorn Walcott was among a group of athletes who received TT$5 million from the Trinidad Government for their outstanding performances at the recently concluded Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.

Triple gold medallist cyclist Nicholas Paul and shot putter Cleopatra Borel were also among those who were rewarded on Wednesday at a function hosted by the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Shamfa Cudjoe, at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua.

The event was also used to officially launch the National Policy on Sport 2017 – 2027 and was attended by T&T’s first Olympic gold medallist Hasely Crawford, cricket legend Bri­an Lara and talented footballer Russell Latapy.

In commending the athletes for their efforts, Cudjoe said the new National Policy on Sport ensured that national athletes are rewarded for their performances at regional and international meets.

“I am sur­round­ed by he­roes. It is my priv­i­lege and plea­sure to be here to launch the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Sports 2017-2027 as we recog­nise sport­ing ex­cel­lence with our na­tion­al ath­letes who would have medalled at the re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al Games,” Cudjoe said.

“The 2002 pol­i­cy fo­cused on the de­vel­op­ment of sport un­der two main ar­eas, to­tal par­tic­i­pa­tion in sport and high-per­for­mance sport. Though at the time the 2oo2 pol­i­cy was con­sid­ered to be holis­tic in its ap­proach to sports de­vel­op­ment, it was nev­er ful­ly im­ple­ment­ed.

“The na­tion­al pol­i­cy on sports 2017-2027 would have cap­i­talised on any de­fi­cien­cies iden­ti­fied with the pre­vi­ous pol­i­cy and rec­ti­fied. The new pol­i­cy adopts a com­pre­hen­sive and col­lab­o­ra­tive frame­work for ac­tion,” she added.

Cud­joe promised that her min­istry would en­sure that all in­di­vid­u­als and in­sti­tu­tions re­spon­si­ble for ser­vic­ing the needs of the sport were equipped with the nec­es­sary skills and com­pe­ten­cies.

Additionally, she said Cab­i­net had ap­proved the re­ward of na­tion­al teams who cre­ate his­to­ry by qual­i­fy­ing for their re­spec­tive World Cups for the first time, like the women’s se­nior vol­ley­ball team, who will make their de­but at the World Women’s Vol­ley­ball Cham­pi­onships in Japan lat­er this year.