Friday, March 29, 2024

BOA cut likely

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Selection for Barbados teams may get even more stringent.
Glyne Clarke all but hinted at that future for Bajan squads attending major meets, after the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) operations manager expressed serious disappointment with the country’s returns at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
“We’re going to have to be [even more selective] because when we look at some of the performances at these Games they really aren’t what you would expect from the level of athlete that they’re coming from,” said Clarke.
“At the end of the day we have to evaluate the sport, the performances and the athletes and we have to pay a lot more attention to that.
“If you look at table tennis for example, they have athletes that have been competing for many years so it’s time we start looking at younger athletes who will be able to give us better performances in the years to come,” he added.
The comments definitely don’t come as a surprise following Barbados’ recent returns at these international events, especially the Commonwealth Games where the ultramarine and gold have managed to eek out a bronze medal at the last two editions.
Clarke actually served as the assistant chef de mission at those medal-less 2010 games in Delhi and made similar statements upon his return, saying then that the BOA will be limiting the numbers attending future games.
The current economic climate doesn’t make matters any better either, with the BOA’s primary source of funding – the Barbados Lottery – recording a drop in profit last year heading into a season in which the BOA had to shell out a hefty $1.6 million bill to fund teams to meets this year.
So it’s been doubly as hard for the BOA to watch Barbados’ rugby and netball teams struggle in their competitions thus far, while elite athletes such as Ryan Brathwaite, Jade Bailey, Anderson Emmanuel and Ivorn McKnee have all failed to live up to expectations.
“We narrowly missed a bronze with the judo but most of the team sports thus far have delivered disappointing performances to be honest,” said Clarke.
“A lot of the other performances so far have been mixed, because we got a bronze from Shane Brathwaite in the hurdles and Ramon Gittens made the 100 metres final, but then we’ve had some other not so good performances to go along with those.”
Barbados is being represented by 61 athletes in 12 different sports in Glasgow.

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