TT table tennis body challenges judge

The TT Table Tennis Association (TTTTA) has appealed the decision of Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell to extend an injunction which prevented it from taking further action on its decision to select players Aaron Wilson and Yuvraaj Dookram for the Commonwealth Games.

The games will be held in Gold Coast, Australia from April 4-15. The TTTTA’s attorneys filed the appeal on Wednesday.

The injunction was sought by this country’s most successful players, Dexter St Louis and Rheann Chung, and granted on two occasions by the judge.

Last week, the judge dismissed their application to refer the matter to arbitration by the TT Olympic Committee (TTOC).

In their procedural appeal application, the TTTTA’s attorneys have asserted that the judge misdirected herself and made “palpable and overriding errors” in failing to appreciate that Chung and St Louis failed to establish any cause of action against the association.

They have also complained that the judge failed to appreciate that the injunction granted was not sought by the two players in their substantive claim for redress.

The lawyers further contend that Donaldson-Honeywell failed to appreciate that it was the TTTTA’s selection committee that had selected two players to the games, which was ratified by the association’s management committee in accordance with its constitution, and by allowing the injunction, she prevented Wilson and Dookram from being ratified by the TTOC for participation at the games in April.

A trial has been set for March 5, two days before the deadline for entries for the Gold Coast games. France-based professionals Chung and St Louis are seeking to overturn the decision to omit them from the national team.

The two players are seeking compensation for breach of contract, conspiracy and/or unlawful interference.

The TTTTA has argued that neither St Louis nor Chung adhered to the national selection policy implemented at the association’s AGM in January 2016. The selection policy states that those who wish to be considered for of national selection must compete in at least one local tournament on the TTTTA calendar and have a podium finish in the last nine months.

Attorneys Mathew G W Gayle, sports lawyer Dr Emir Crowne and Sheriza Khan are representing Chung and St Louis while Kiel Tacklalsingh, Dinesh Rambally and Steffan Ramkissoon are representing the TTTTA.

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