Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Mrs Sharon Rowley attended the Opening Ceremony for the Seventh Edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games, held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on Friday.
Over 1000 athletes and para-athletes between the ages of 14-18 years old will participate in seven sporting events managed by over 500 officials.
A Carnival-style atmosphere of Trinidad and Tobago’s culture filled the stadium to welcome the young athletes from 71 nations and territories.
Commonwealth Games president Dame Louis Martin described the opening as “one of the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen.”
Martin, in her short address, thanked all those who made the games possible.
“Thank you for everything you have done to get us here,” she said.
President Christine Kangaloo declared the games open. “I have the easiest and most pleasant task today,” she said.
Prior to Martin’s speech and the official opening of the games by Kangaloo, traditional Carnival characters paraded in front the covered section. Baby Dolls, Midnight Robbers, the Dame Lorraine and Fancy Indians helped give spectators a history of Carnival, before pretty mas costumes joined the ceremony.
The Canboulay Riots were also explained during the presentation.
The tradition of East Indian culture was then expressed through dance which the crowd appreciated as they cheered, before the variety of races in TT was mentioned.
Extempo king Brian London then delivered a message about the Commonwealth, through song.
Children are the focus during the games as the majority of the performers were youngsters.
It was a constant flow of entertainment as Soca king Machel Montano’s music was played multiple times which may have introduced many of the athletes to soca music.
Tan Tan and Saga Boy were certainly a highlight of the opening as they had the crowd in awe. The characters, created by mas legend Peter Minshall, are huge free flowing human like costumes controlled by real people. When Tan Tan and Saga Boy started to dance with each other the crowd was in a frenzy.
Local singing group FreeTown Collective closed the show with a performance, while being joined by the athletes.
Sport Minister, Shamfa Cudjoe, who spoke at the start of the opening ceremony, was elated to see people from around the world in TT.
“I warmly welcome you to TT.”
She said it has been a journey, saying, “Today we celebrate the collaborative effort by so many people who have been committed to the cause from day one.”
Cudjoe thanked the Commonwealth Games Federation for choosing TT to host the games, along with the TT Commonwealth Games Federation and all those who made this moment possible.
The events will kick off on Saturday with cycling at the National Cycling Velodrome in Couva from 9 am-1 pm and in Tobago, beach volleyball will be held from 10 am- 12.30 pm and then from 3.30 pm-6 pm.
