TennisTT elated with Racquet Centre return

THE NATIONAL Racquet Centre in Tacarigua is currently being decommissioned as a covid19 step-down facility and should return to a state of normalcy by the end of April.

This was confirmed by Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh and Tennis Association of TT (TennisTT) president Hayden Mitchell on Saturday.

During the Prime Minister’s covid19 briefing, Deyalsingh said the decommissioning process should take about two weeks to be completed.

However, Mitchell affirmed that after all the medical equipment is removed, the facility’s ventilation system must be thoroughly cleaned before any sport-related activity can resume.

Deyalsingh said, “We have also decommissioned the Tacarigua Racquet Centre as a step-down facility. It was used originally to house those persons from Barbados (quarantined), then as a mass vaccination site, then as a step down facility.

“So I really want to thank SporTT and the Ministry of Sport (and Community Development). Everything is being dismantled and taken out as we speak. We hope that process to be finished in about two weeks; we have to clean and so on.”

Mitchell added that the process may take a bit longer since the ventilation system remains top priority to ensure a smooth resumption of operations there.

“They (Ministry of Health) have to remove all the equipment and then, most importantly, they have to clean the air-ducting system, changing all the filters and so on. SporTT is now confirming they have a checklist to complete to ensure that process is done properly.

“We’re very happy that the country has reached this path to decommission the facility. We are trending in the right direction,” said Mitchell.

Before the pandemic, TennisTT was pursuing International Tennis Federation (ITF) certification for the facility. Mitchell said they will now resume the process with the sport’s global governing body.

“We have a lot of work to do in terms of process, procedures, setting things and installing the technology up in the facility. We’re trying to get that done before year’s end.

“Now that we’ll be getting in very soon, by the end of next month, we should be in a good position to accelerate the certification process. Once that is done, there are a lot of key benefits for TT.

“Having access for the facility to resume locally, and especially internationally, because ITF has been asking us when we are going to start back. Trinidad plays a key role in terms of development in this region,” he added.

Since the restrictions to resume domestic sport, particularly contact sports, were lifted in January, several national sporting organisations mandated that their athletes must be fully vaccinated to compete.

But with Dr Rowley’s discontinuance of safe-zone policies on Saturday, which means vaccinated and unvaccinated people can congregate together in public spaces, sporting organisations await on how to proceed with these new rules regarding sport.

Mitchell closed, “We’ll continue to be guided by what the government regulations are. If they say there are no safe zones, there are none.”