The Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (SporTT) has issued a media release clarifying its decision to place funding for National Governing Bodies (NGBs) on hold — a move that ultimately contributed to the non-participation of members of the national junior cycling team at the Junior Pan American Championships in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
In the release, SporTT pushed back against recent media reports and public criticism surrounding the team’s absence from the regional competition, stating that the decision to suspend subventions was neither sudden nor arbitrary.
According to SporTT, all NGBs under its purview were formally notified by the Sport Development Unit (SDU) as far back as February 2026 that funding approvals had been placed on hold indefinitely, pending administrative and financial review processes.
The organisation further stated that the Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation (TTCF) was specifically informed of this position more than three months ago, at a virtual meeting held on 29 January 2026 — well ahead of the Championships.
“The decision to place subventions on hold was not taken lightly,” SporTT stated, adding that it was “in part necessary due to persistent compliance challenges across several NGBs, especially in light of ongoing funding constraints.”
At the centre of the dispute are eight outstanding expense reports spanning both the current and previous financial years that SporTT says the TTCF has yet to fully resolve.
Five of those reports are currently under review by the SDU but remain incomplete, pending additional supporting documentation from the TTCF. The remaining three reports, SporTT confirmed, have not yet been submitted by the federation at all.
The state enterprise maintained that in line with governance and accountability best practices, these outstanding matters had to be resolved before any further funding requests could be considered — and that the TTCF was made aware of this requirement through established channels with sufficient time to explore alternative arrangements.