walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
Talented younger sprinters Zion Pulido and Sylese Christian will join the T&T cycling team ahead of the Elite Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between July 14-17.
Rowena Williams president of the T&T Cycling Federation revealed this yesterday, saying they will be the only addition to the team currently at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Pulido, considered one of the country’s fastest upcoming sprinters, will join the likes of Nicholas Paul, Kwesi Browne and Quincy Alexander to form a formidable quartet for the team sprint.
Last year the team of Pulido, Njisane Phillip and Keron Bramble claimed silver in the Men’s Team Sprint of the Elite Pan American Track Championships in Lima, Peru. And in 2019 the T&T sprint team of Bramble, Phillip and Paul won the gold medal.
The only real concern for the national coach at the championships will be the order and strategy to gain maximum productivity from the riders.
Paul has been in top shape, following his gold, silver and bronze medals won at the Commonwealth Games in the keirin, match-sprint and kilometre time trial respectively.
Browne has been living in Paul’s shadows, finishing sixth in the final of the keirin.
Meanwhile, Williams was high in praise of Paul, saying she was not surprised by the achievement of the young rider who has been working hard at his base at the UCI Cycle Centre in Aigle, Switzerland.
“We’re very proud of him, proud of his achievements. We were expecting great achievements coming out of Cali, Colombia, the gold medal he would have won in Cali and the preparations he would have been under, going into the Commonwealth Games, because this would have been one of his goals for this year.
I think he executed well and he put all his efforts into making T&T proud and I think that is commendable at a time when we really need to have some positives in the sporting arena,” Williams told Guardian Media Sports yesterday.
“We definitely congratulate the entire team, and though no other medals were won, I think the entire team would have performed to their best and they would have seen where additional work would be needed and their coaches would definitely be putting different strategies in place to move forward.”