Stanley still in charge but…

Sean Stanley has retained the post of President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association but will have those who opposed his style of leadership to contend with as his support team.{{more}}

Stanley was reelected to the top position last Saturday as the association held its Annual General Meeting at the CW Prescod Primary School.

He had to stave off a challenge from Camille Crichton, but triumphed 12-10 when the ballots were counted.

But most of the others elected have expressed publicly their dissatisfaction about the way Stanley led the association for the past year.

Among them are Vice President Alonzo Primus, Assistant SecretaryTreasurer Elliot Charles, Public Relations Officer E. Glenford Prescott and Committee Member Julian Sutherland.

The other persons elected at Saturday’s meeting saw Paul Velox positioned as Secretary, with Leslie Millington entrusted with the post of the association’s treasurer and Khalique Bailey, the other Committee Member.

Primus defeated Charles in a two way run off 12-9, while Velox, Charles, Millington and Prescott were elected unchallenged.

For Stanley, who did not hide his elation of holding on, despite a barrage of accusations, saw the new slate as an opportunity to repair the damage done to the sport.

“Some of those same persons have to be part of the cleaning up of what they have done to the image of the sport, that’s why I am happy that some of them have been elected’, Stanley told SEARCHLIGHT soon after the elections were held.

Expressing the hope that the hatchets have been buried, Stanley said with some optimism “I hope we can all work together for the betterment of the sport”.

But his wishful thinking soon evaporated as the old rivals seemed still wanting their pound of flesh.

A forward looking Stanley though elaborated, “The slate of persons in my support, we can move on things as table tennis is a fast growing sport and needs urgent attention for what is available for the youngsters and those who are not so young”.

“I want to thank all those who rallied with me in this election and showed faith in my ability and voted me back in as President”, Stanley concluded.

Saturday’s Meeting was far from cordial, as it at times degenerated into verbal matches among members present with several mini meetings and side shows competing with the main event.

This necessitated the intervention of the President of the National Olympic Committee Trevor Bailey who then took over the chairmanship of the meeting from Stanley. Even he too had difficulty in quelling some of the chaos that ensued.

Among the issues that surfaced were the eligibility of voters, the absence of the Secretary’s report and the unavailability of copies of the President’s report to those attending the meeting.

Some also objected to the Treasurer’s report, however Stanley was mandated to have this issue rectified and audited in six weeks, while a six month time frame was given for the remediation of the Association’s Constitution.