Bermuda’s hopes of medalling in the Under-20 boys 100 and 200 metres at the Carifta Games suffered a setback after sprinter Jeneko Place withdrew on the eve of competition due to a hamstring injury.Bermuda coach Brian Wellman confirmed last night that the promising sprinter would not be taking any part in the meet, being held for the fourth time on local shores.“We had to withdraw Jeneko from the event due to the fact his injury was preventing him from performing to the level which he needs to perform at,” Wellman said. “Obviously he will be greatly missed but we have other talented athletes who are ready to go.”Place, who won two silver medals at the 2010 Carifta Games in the Cayman Islands, had been considered as one of the Island’s best hopes of a medal in the lead-up to the Games.The promising athlete, who also races motorcycles, had hoped to break the current junior national 100 metres record (10.6 seconds) held by Lovintz Tota in front of the home crowd.Place is the second local athlete behind Quaashie Douglas to be ruled out of the Games through a hamstring injury.Wellman acknowledged that the sprinter’s last minute withdrawal was a setback but remained confident that Bermuda’s athletes would do themselves and the Island proud.“It’s a setback to some degree,” he added. “But we have a team of very talented athletes who have put in a bunch of work.”The Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame triple jumper, who won the gold medal at the 1995 World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain, believed today’s opening session at the National Sports Centre (NSC) would be crucial for the Island’s athletes.“After the first session we will see what’s happening and try and get a feel of where we stand and go from there,” he said. “Basically we’ve done what we needed to do at this point and now we’ll see how we perform and obviously we, the coaches, will do our best on the side to help our kids do better on the day.“Right now we are just open minded and optimistic we can go out there and execute to the best of our ability. I think we have a very talented team and now we hope to see if most of that talent can come to the forefront and perform.”