Na­tion­al draughts play­er, Trea­sure Haynes, cruised to vic­to­ry in the first pri­ma­ry schools tour­na­ment host­ed by the T&T Draughts Check­ers As­so­ci­a­tion on Sat­ur­day at the Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Ari­ma.

Over 100 pri­ma­ry schools were rep­re­sent­ed at the tour­na­ment, with a to­tal of 209 stu­dents (93 girls and 116 boys) par­tic­i­pat­ing. Scores of spec­ta­tors from all over the coun­try turned out to the sup­port their re­spec­tive schools. The sta­di­um was filled with cheers and screams from teach­ers, prin­ci­pals and stu­dents. Dig­ni­taries such as for­mer pres­i­dent of the NAAA, Ken Dol­dron, mar­ket­ing man­ag­er of blink/bmo­bile, Jer­von Abra­ham and draughts am­bas­sador for the city of Port-of-Spain, Murchi­son Brown, al­so at­tend­ed the event.

Coach­es had 15 min­utes to brief the play­ers on play­ing strate­gies and tips on how to use every sec­ond of their time wise­ly. On­ly the best-of-the-best could have with­stood the men­tal­ly-de­mand­ing six-hour tour­ney. Par­ents could not even face the board as their hearts pound­ed with anx­i­ety in hopes that their child would emerge the win­ner. Haynes, who was a tour­na­ment favourite from the be­gin­ning, proud­ly rep­re­sent­ed D'abadie Gov­ern­ment as she eas­i­ly won the tour­na­ment. St Fin­bars Girls' RC stu­dent, Aleyah Ali, took sec­ond fol­lowed by Elana Pan­choo of Fe­lic­i­ty Hin­du School. All win­ners re­ceived cash, tro­phies, medals and cell­phones.

In the boys, the draughts was more mind-blow­ing with the north and east play­ers bat­tling the Point Fortin School, led by the Re­nal­do Mapp. This qui­et-look­ing form five stu­dent was the one to watch as his games played very well, earn­ing him the first place spot in the end. Sec­ond place went to Trent Harley of Nel­son Street Boys, fol­lowed by na­tion­al un­der-19 play­er, Cameron William, of Pine Haven SDA. No one was left emp­ty-hand­ed for their hard work, as all par­tic­i­pants re­ceived medals and a draughts board com­plete with pieces.

RE­SULTS

Girls:

1st - Trea­sure Haynes (D'Abadie Gov­ern­ment)

2nd - Aleyah Ali (St Fin­bar's Girls RC)

3rd - Elana Pan­choo (Fe­lic­i­ty Hin­du School)

4th - Os­amia Mc­Dowald (Beth­le­hem Girls RC)

5th - Ariel Richard­son (Tu­na­puna Pres­by­ter­ian)

Boys:

1st - Re­nal­do Mapp (Point Fortin School)

2nd - Trent Harley (Nel­son Street Boys)

3rd - Cameron William (Pine Haven SDA)

4th - Nathaniel Ali (Ari­ma Boys Gov­ern­ment)

5th - Eli­jah Le­tren (San­ta Rosa Gov­ern­ment)

1st - Trea­sure Haynes (D'Abadie Gov­ern­ment)

2nd - Aleyah Ali (St Fin­bar's Girls RC)

3rd - Elana Pan­choo (Fe­lic­i­ty Hin­du School)

4th - Os­amia Mc­Dowald (Beth­le­hem Girls RC)

5th - Ariel Richard­son (Tu­na­puna Pres­by­ter­ian)