PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Local sporting associations are crushed over last Friday’s sudden cancellation of the inaugural Caribbean Games and track and field bosses are now concerned over the status of the Pan American Junior Championship scheduled for next month-end.
Rising fears over the spread of the Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus led the health ministry to call off the scheduled July 12-19 event that was budgeted to cost the government $35 million (US$5.7 million).
National Amateur Athletics Association (NAAA) president Ephraim Serrette has expressed concern for the country’s ability to host the Pan American Juniors, slated for two weeks after the Caribbean Games should have ended.
“We in athletics are surely disappointed over the cancellation. However, the announcement would have serious implication for our hosting of the Pan Am Juniors,” said Serrette.
“Countries have already started to book tickets and confirm the attendance to that meet. So we will be looking into what is the best course of action to take,” he added.
The Pan Am Juniors are set for July 31 to August 2.
The decision to cancel was made as a precaution against further H1N1 infections especially after the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared a global H1N1 flu pandemic.
President of the T&T Tennis Association Michael Cooper remarked: “This is a great disappointment for us in the tennis community. We had identified the Games as one of the ways we would promote the sport here locally, especially with the addition of the new facility at Shaw Park. However, with the cancellation, this will now be impossible.”
Plans to hold a training camp in Florida, USA to prepare local players for the Games have been cancelled according to Cooper.
“The training camp will be cancelled for sure,” said Cooper, who remarked that the players also expressed their great disappointment.
Similar sentiments were also expressed by President of the T&T Netball Association Patricia Butcher.
“Our players were heavy in training for the Games because they were critical in our preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships,” she said.
“We also have the World Youth Netball Championships this August in the Cook Islands. Now that the Games have been cancelled, other arrangements will have to be made (to help prepare),” Butcher added.
Local boxers would have used the Games as preparation for the upcoming Caribbean and World Boxing Championships, both slated for September and T&T Amateur Boxing Association president Cecil Forde says their plans have been derailed.
“We have had 25 boxers in camp since January because we have two major tournaments coming up right after the Caribbean Games. The Games would have served as a yardstick for us,” said Forde.
Volleyball was the first local sporting organisation hit by the swine flu pandemic when one volleyballer tested positive for the virus and Daymian Stewart, CEO of the T&T Volleyball Federation is describing this latest development as an even greater shock.
“We have spent two years preparing for the Games,” Stewart said.
“To see all the work we have been doing disappear in a matter of days is a great shock.”
Stewart added that the commitment put in by several members of the T&T team also makes it even harder to bear.
“Players have taken in some cases six months away from work to be ready for Games and that’s a great sacrifice. We understand the reason behind the move but it doesn’t make it any easier,” he said.
Included in the near US$6 million budget for the Games were cost for repairs and renovations to a number of local sporting facilities.
Four venues for the Caribbean Games had been completed — the netball courts at the Jean Pierre Complex, the tennis courts at Shaw Park in Tobago and the volleyball facilities at the University of the West Indies Sport and Physical Education Centre and at Saith Park in Chaguanas.
In addition to the Hasely Crawford Stadium, work was also being done on the Indoor Gymnasium at the Jean Pierre Complex and the Woodbrook Youth Facility for boxing.
