T&T will not be represented at this weekend’s Pan American Junior Championships in Medellin, Colombia. The local track and field body, the National Association for Athletic Associations (NAAA) had named a 20 member contingent (13 athletes and seven officials) for the meet.
The athletes have been in training at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in preparation to travel to Colombia, but NAAA secretary Allan Baboolal said the team was withdrawn because of a lack of funding.
“We sent a request to the Sport Company (Sportt) about two months ago and when we did check they said they did not have funds. By then the tickets had to be cancelled. However, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sports Ashwin Creed, called yesterday (Monday) and indicated that they were trying to put some funds together but it would have been too late because to get flights to Panama and then to Colombia was extremely difficult.”
Baboolal was speaking on the return of the World Championship contingent from Moscow on Tuesday.
World Championships competitors Ayodelle Taffe and Domonique Williams, along with Carifta champions Machel Cedenio and Mark London were expected to contend for medals in Medellin.