fp Turks and Caicos

Residents of the Big South showed Islandcom they take their dominoes seriously at the nail-biting first stop on the Islandcom Wireless National Domino Tournament.

Islandcom took the tournament to the quiet island of South Caicos, where teams from all parts of the community participated in the all-day event.

Under the watchful eye of Chief Umpire and Chairman of the TCI Sports Commission, Rev. Rodney Cox, 12 teams took on the challenge to see who would be named the National Domino Champion for the island of South Caicos.

The community was well represented from the Fire Fighters team to the strong Haitian national teams of Pierre and Poze, the all-lady team of the Doltons, to the young exuberant Juk Wine Team. However, they were no match for domino veteran teams Fish, Two Stars, Jacks and Oilers, which came determined to take home the prize.

After the first round of knock outs, it was the Jacks Team that took on the Juices and the Oilers against the Fish in the semi-final round.

The stakes were high and it showed in the car park of Kisa Services, Islandcom Wireless’ Authorized Dealer in South Caicos, when the Jacks team of Gilbert Jennings and Conrad Kennedy were in serious contention with the Fish team of Milton Forbes and Norman Saunders for the coveted title in the finals.

The Fish Team emerged victorious, beaming with pride. “It was a night of good domino,” said Saunders, captain of the Fish Team. “We are ready to take on the champions from the other islands.”

Saunders and Forbes walked away with the $500 pot, bragging rights and a ticket to the finals to be held Oct. 30 in Provo. The runners up, Jennings and Kennedy, won Islandcom phones with Islandcom 3G service and a Blackberry/Islandcom gift bag.

“We were not to be disappointed,” said Tanya-Sue Young, marketing and customer care manager of Islandcom Wireless. “South Caicos gave us all the dynamism of Caribbean Dominoes — there was laughter, suspense, action and a little bit of anger to top it off. Islandcom came to South to share an evening of fun and festivity with the people of the island, and everyone had a great time.”

Kim Baker, manager of Kisa Services, thanked Islandcom for focusing on the South Caicos community.

“Not only is the 3G product really providing solutions for the people of South Caicos, who are taking advantage of Islandcom’s wireless data product in areas where there is no Internet access, but South Caicos really needed to have a positive community activity such as this,” Baker said.

The events are co-sponsored by Blackberry for the official launch of the new Blackberry 3G Pearl in the Turks and Caicos market. The winners of the competition will walk away with Blackberry 3G Pearls as well as cash prizes.

The next stops in the tournament are North Caicos and Middle Caicos on Friday, Oct. 15, at K & J Foods in North Caicos.Players in the capital of Grand Turk need to register before Oct. 20 to secure a place on that island’s tournament Saturday, Oct. 23. And Providenciales registrations are due before Oct. 27. The Providenciales event will take place Saturday, Oct. 30.