Organisers are facing a financial shortfall ahead of the Island Games to cover costs of sending their athletes to Rhodes after two Bermudian businesses withdrew sponsorship.

The Bermuda Island Games Association pay around $50,000 for accommodation and accreditation fees for athletes, who in turn pay for their flights.

Any shortfall is usually covered by local businesses — but two of the BIGA’s main sponsors pulled out in January and chairman John Beard is appealing for financial assistance to fill the void.

“It costs $50,000 to send over 250 athletes to the Island Games — 80 per cent are under the age of 23,” he said.

“The athletes pay their air travel while the BIGA find the rest. Usually the sponsors pick up the shortfall but with two of the big backers withdrawing we didn’t have much time to find alternatives. “We’ve managed to fill some of the void but we’re still short so any help would be much appreciated.

“Some businesses view the Games as a bit of a jolly, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Bermuda’s athletes have been descending on Rhodes throughout the week looking to rack up their best ever medal haul.

The showpiece starts tomorrow with Bermuda’s hopefuls already training in earnest on the Greek island ahead of the opening ceremony.

Athletes competing in archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, football, golf, sailing, swimming, tennis, triathlon and volleyball will represent Bermuda.

Two years ago they claimed 43 medals at the 2005 Games staged in the Shetland Islands and Gibraltar and hope to dwarf that total over the next week.

The Games are usually the largest sports meet in Europe in the year they are held: 5,000 athletes are expected to be taking part in Rhodes.

But despite the grand scale of the competition Beard, who works at Saltus Grammar School, believes many Islanders fail to give the Games the credit they deserve.

“I think sometimes people underestimate how important the Games are,” he added.

“They provide a great indicator of how good we are against similar populated islands. There’s an impression if we do too well the Games are of a low standard — which is ridiculous.

“They also give sports like basketball, volleyball and tennis a chance to compete against players of a similar standard, instead of always getting beat by teams from the US and Canada.”

The member islands competing are: Aland, Alderney, Bermuda, Cayman, Falklands, Faroe Islands, Froya, Gilbraltar, Gotland, Greenland, Guernsey, Hitra, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Jersey, Minorca, Orkney, Prince Edward Island, Rhodes, Saaremaa, Sark, Shetland, St Helena, Western Islands and Ynyns Mon.

All member islands have to have populations of under 125,000. It will be Minorca’s first appearance.