00:00Well, thank God it is Friday and the blame game has begun as the national men and women's hockey team have been forced to withdraw from the Pan American Cup in Uruguay due to lack of funding.
00:24Well, the Pan American Hockey Federation confirmed the withdrawal, citing logistical reasons. Hockey board president Willard Harris apologized to the teams and he explained that the lack of funding from the government is the reason for the withdrawal. However, the ministry has struck back saying that the TNT hockey board, well, they don't want to blame.
00:42It practically came at the 11th hour rendering months and years of hard work and sacrifice as a wasted opportunity. It was only Wednesday a day before the start of the Pan American Cup in Uruguay that the Trinidad and Tobago hockey board indicated it will not participate in the tournament.
01:01President Willard Harris, in response, said the TTHB did everything within its power to ensure participation, but the situation eventually spiraled out of their hands.
01:12But the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs is painting a different picture.
01:16The ministry said the hockey board has been non-compliant in submitting audited financial statements on time and has not yet submitted statements for 2024.
01:25The ministry's release states this has significantly hindered the funding approval process of the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago, resulting in delays that negatively impacted team preparations.
01:38It adds the TTHB only submitted requests for funding on May 4, 2025, despite both the men and women's teams securing qualification for the tournament in 2024 and 2022, respectively.
01:51And the decision to withdraw on the eve of the Pan American Cup could prove a costly one, as it came outside of the 16-week grace period.
02:00As a result, payments already made may not be refunded, but more importantly, the TNT hockey board could face possible fines, penalties, and even suspension.
02:12This is the second tournament in a matter of months the TTHB has missed since withdrawing from the CAC qualifiers in Mexico in May.
02:21Terrence Clark, TV6 Sport.
02:23Well, while both the TNT hockey board and the Ministry of Sports are expressing their disappointment over TNT's non-participation,
02:30one person feeling the pain of the decision is national women's player and co-captain Felicia King-Ashby,
02:35who noted that this hurts women's hockey in particular, as they will go the entire year without tournaments.
02:41The women's team qualified for this tournament since January of 2022, so that is three years out.
02:50We know that we were going to participate in this tournament.
02:54And at the last stage, to find out that, no, we're not going to go.
02:58Even though we were assured that, yes, we are going to send you guys to this tournament, and then, nothing.
03:08Cheyenne Tobago is on no show at the Panic Cup.
03:12Nothing.
03:13The women.
03:13No real communication beforehand, and this is extremely, extremely sad.
03:24Again, I will continue to emphasize it's heartbreaking as an athlete.
03:28To put in all this hard work, all the effort, time, commitment, money, just to be there.
03:35And then, you're told at the last minute that, you're not going to go.
03:40I'm not here to point fingers or blame anyone.
03:43But I think we need to do better.
03:47We need to do something to ensure that this would never, ever happen again.
03:51Not just in hockey, but in any sport in Toronto, we go.
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