Pe­ter Bal­roop

Vet­er­an stick­fight­er Ains­ley Mo­hammed lost an eye dur­ing the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) stick­fight­ing pre­lim­i­nar­ies held at the Tabaquite bas­ket­ball court last week Sat­ur­day. Mo­hammed, from the Gran Cou­va gayelle, had to be rushed to hos­pi­tal af­ter he was on the re­ceiv­ing end of a bois while in the gayelle. Jen­nifer Cas­sar, who is in charge of the NCC's stick­fight­ing com­pe­ti­tion, said the NCC board would de­cide whether Mo­hammed would be of­fered com­pen­sa­tion for his in­jury which took place dur­ing a com­mis­sion event.

Mo­hammed was third in the NCC's King of the Rock com­pe­ti­tion in 2008. "I am try­ing to reach his fam­i­ly to find out how Ain­se­ly Mo­hammed has come out of his in­jury," Cas­sar told the Sun­day Guardian mid-week. The stick­fight­ing moved to the semi­fi­nal stage yes­ter­day in Siparia with the fi­nals card­ed for Wednes­day at 7 pm at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre where the 2010 King of the Rock com­pe­ti­tion will be staged. But at the pre­lims it was clear that the reign­ing cham­pi­on, An­drew Mar­cano, is like­ly to have his work cut out to re­tain his crown.

Be­cause be­fore a huge crowd of chant­i­ng stick­fight­ing en­thu­si­asts, bay­ing for blood, Mar­cano from the Princes Town gayelle was held to a draw by a gal­lant Chi­nee Ali from the La Ruf­fin gayelle. "Ali fought a good fight," Cas­sar con­firmed, adding that the bout last­ed the, full five min­utes al­lot­ted un­der NCC rules. Yes­ter­day six gayelles took part in the semi­fi­nals: Tal­paro, Gran Chemin, La Ruf­fin, Gran Cou­va, Princes Town and Long­denville with three fight­ers in each team.

Cham­pi­on gayelle earns $16,000, while King of the Rock takes home $13,000 for ex­hibit­ing enough skill with the bois to turn back all op­po­nents in a game where a slip of the hand could turn dead­ly, as Mo­hammed found out.