Competitors from a dozen Bermuda sports heading to Shetland
Bermuda?s participation in the ninth Island Games will be bigger and more reflective of the country?s sporting diversity.
Chairman of Bermuda Island Games Jon Beard yesterday revealed the Island would compete in 12 of the 17 disciplines to be showcased at the biennial meet for nations with populations of less than 125,000.
Bermuda has signed up for archery, badminton, cycling, football (women), golf, gymnastics (women), sailing, squash, swimming and volleyball for the July 9-15 Games to be held in the Shetland Islands, off the west coast of Scotland. Both men and women will compete in the various sports aside from gymnastics and football.
Two weeks prior to the Games proper, Bermuda?s tennis and basketball teams will vie for honours in Gibraltar which is hosting those segments due to a lack of facilities in the main host nation.
Once again, athletics is a glaring absentee from Bermuda?s line up of sports confirmed for the Island Games.
?We have asked them but we have just not had a response,? said Beard in reference to the Bermuda Track and Field Association?s (BTFA) silence on whether they would submit athletes for the competition.
Eager for Bermuda ? who grabbed 37 medals including 15 golds at the 2003 Games ? to reap as much if not more success on this occasion, Beard reached out to the BTFA in a last-ditch plea.
?The initial deadline has passed for registering which sports your country will compete in but, if track and field turned around and said ?yes, we want to send somebody?, we would do all we could to try and get them in,? he said.
The official also revealed Bermuda?s shooting fraternity had to turn down the Island Games? invitation because of a prior commitment.
Other than these disappointments, he was thrilled at the potential for Bermuda to excel among other small islands.
?Oh, it?s great. We?re going to be taking about 150 competitors if it all pans out the way it is at the moment. The last group we took was the biggest to leave Bermuda ever and this year will be even bigger,? he continued.
?It?s fantastic. Of the sports from Bermuda that are able to take part, everybody we have spoken to has pretty much come on board.?
The Island Games are seen as an opportunity for the world?s least-populous countries to compete on what is considered a level playing field. There are no qualification standards for the meet other than the regulation about nations? population size.
?None of the islands in the Games can have a population of more than 125,000 and therefore islands like Greenland ? though it has a massive land mass ? are eligible because there are not many people on it,? Beard explained, adding that the list of who will actually represent Bermuda will be finalised by April 9.
Meanwhile, Bermuda Sailing Association president Tim Patton revealed that national governing body is eyeing the Games as a chance for their juniors to get beneficial exposure ?at a moderately high level? and also for their seniors to return with medals.
?Our intention is to send four competitors. The best Laser sailor we can find will race in the Laser Open event and the same thing in the Laser Radial for women,? explained Patton.
?Then we are hoping to do exactly the same thing with juniors. So we?ll have a junior girl in the Laser Radial and a junior boy in the Laser Radial.?
While trials will be held to determined the sailing contingent, the BSA chief surmised that Zander Kirkland, Brett Wright, Malcolm Smith and Christian Luthie could be among those Games-bound.
In squash, the strongest possible adult team is being sent, with professional Nick Kyme among those already confirmed to compete and fellow pro James Stout likely to join him.
Seven players, four men and three women, will compete for Bermuda in the team, singles and doubles events, with the Island set to be hot favourites to claim medals, particularly in the men?s singles.
Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Wight and Cayman Islands are among those nations eligible to participate in the popular biennial summer event