Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 28, 2020 (DBSKN) — After a seventeen-year hiatus the St. Kitts National Domino Association (SKNDA) now has an interim committee in place that is preparing to host a national domino tournament in March, thanks to sponsorship from a number of corporate citizens including the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Sponsorship by the Development Bank is the title sponsorship – now the tournament will be called the Development Bank National Domino Tournament,” explained interim Chairman Mr Romeo Parris when he received sponsorship cheque from Ms Vernitha Evelyn, Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Marketing Officer on Friday February 21.
The tournament, which is expected to attract about twenty teams, will start around mid-March. According to Mr Parris, an invitation has been extended to the Development Bank’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Lenworth Harris to attend both the opening ceremony and the prize giving ceremony.
“Since we do not have a home, this tournament will take place at the New Town Community Centre,” observed Mr Parris. “We want to thank the Area Parliamentary Representative the Hon Ian Patches Liburd, and the person in charge of the community centre for allowing us to use it for at least three months twice a week to put on a real spectacular mathematical and statistical and psychological game.”
At the end of the tournament, a total of sixty players will be picked to go to camp where they will go through internal competitions, and a national team made up of the best 38 players will be selected to travel to Antigua and Barbuda in August to represent St. Kitts at the World Council of Domino Federation (WCDF) championships.
“Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis welcomes the revival of the St. Kitts National Domino Association,” said Ms Vernitha Evelyn, the bank’s Marketing Officer. “Domino is well known as a game of intelligence where maximum concentration takes precedence. The time they spend on domino tables is time well spent for a nation that expects maximum returns from its people.”
According to Ms Evelyn, the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis offered to partner with the St. Kitts National Domino Club in hosting the national tournament as it will give opportunity to local players to compete on the international stage when the world championships are held in Antigua.
“Going by Constituency Number Seven Domino league, the longest running domino league in the country which is sponsored by Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, the majority of players are men,” said Ms Evelyn. “While we have a few women taking part, we will hope that the St. Kitts National Domino Association will encourage more women to take part in the upcoming national competition.”
The current interim committee of the St. Kitts National Domino Association is made up of Mr Romeo Parris, Chairman; Mr Keithly Blanchette, Vice Chairman; Ms Brenda Hazel, Secretary; Mr Cremoy Agard, Accountant/Treasurer; and Mr Ralph Wilkin, Mr Calvin Farrell, Mrs Moschina Cramer-Carlisle as Executive Members. Other members on the interim committee are Mr Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett, and Mr Delroy Liburd.
This committee will be formalised after the St. Kitts team returns from Antigua, and Mr Parris said that if the association will be well organised, St. Kitts will have the chance to vie for the World Council of Domino Federation (WCDF) championships to be held in St. Kitts in 2022. The Ministry of Sports has given the association the go ahead to vie to be a host of the 2022 world champions.
“We say thanks to the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Mr Parris. “We are extremely grateful, and as always Mr Lenworth Harris (Development Bank’s CEO) supports the sport – I will give him that credit. I am extremely grateful because he sees the importance of bringing these teams and community together, and that is the drive of bringing these people together.”
