RALPH BAN­WARIE

GML Cor­re­spon­dent

Hun­dreds of stick fight­ing fol­low­ers flood­ed Recre­ation Grounds to be part of the pre­lim­i­nary rounds of the Na­tion­al Stick Fight­ing Com­pe­ti­tion, which kicked off at Ojoe Road, San­gre Grande, on Fri­day evening.

The packed au­di­ence in­clud­ed for­eign­ers who came from Cana­da and the Unit­ed States to wit­ness this folk art of T&T.

Stick fight­ers came from Cou­va, Biche, Ma­yaro, Tal­paro and the home­ground—San­gre Grande—giv­ing their best per­for­mance in or­der to qual­i­fy for one of the 12 places for the se­mi-fi­nals, which takes place in Diego Mar­tin .

En­ter­tain­ing the packed crowd was reign­ing stick fight­ing cham­pi­on, Sel­wyn John, who had a tough bat­tle with Labeau Carl­ton to se­cure a place in the se­mi- fi­nals.

Oth­er stick fight­ers in­clud­ed some of T&T's best bois men such as Ter­rence Mar­cano, Dol­land Lewis, Ronald Lewis, Kevin Coop­er, An­tho­ny Coop­er and An­der­son Mar­cano.

The show end­ed with eight queens vy­ing for Miss San­gre Grande by parad­ing on stage.

A heavy po­lice pres­ence pro­vid­ed se­cu­ri­ty and safe­ty for pa­trons.