Trinidad to host inaugural Caribbean Games
By Michael DaSilva, Stabroek News
Posted Friday, 9 June, 2006
Trinidad and Tobago will host the first ever Caribbean Games in March or July of 2009 and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) has agreed in principle to be represented.
According to a source close to the GOA, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through their Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, made a commitment in October 2005 to host the first ever Caribbean Games.
The commitment was made at a meeting of regional Ministers of Sport held here in Guyana. According to the source, Minister Gail Teixeira who was then Minister of Sport represented the Guyana Government.
The disciplines to be contested are boxing, swimming, athletics, netball and volleyball (indoor and beach).
Boxing and volleyball will be staged in Tobago, while the other three sports will be held in Trinidad.
The qualifying standards and events are based on established international standards.
They will be catering for 1,500 athletes and officials, and each participating country has been invited to send their elite athletes.
The governments of participating countries have agreed to fund their own air fares, while host country Trinidad and Tobago will fund all internal expenses such as ground transport, accommodation, meals, security and medical facilities.
The GOA got word of these Games only on May 29 this year, through one of its members who attended the May 29 meeting of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) last month.
The sub-committee members for the Caribbean Games are Larry Davis (Bahamas), Keith Joseph (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Erskine Simmons (Barbados), Larry Romany (Trinidad) and Elton Prescott (Trinidad) who is also the secretary of CANOC. One month after the October 2005 meeting, there were four other meetings, one in Cuba and three in Trinidad, but the source could not say if Guyana was represented at these meetings.
Since the meeting in Cuba (November 2005), presentations have been made to the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.
Trinidad and Tobago and CANOC are to form a technical committee to plan and organise the Games, gain approval of all relevant Regional and International Federations and prepare a budget and marketing plan for presentation to the Heads of Government meeting billed for July 2006.
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