SPORTS

Amateur athletics championships cancelled Published on Thursday, February 12, 2009 Email To Friend    Print Version (TCI-GIS): The Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission has announced the cancellation of the Third Annual National Primary and High School Championship meets, which were scheduled for February 23 to 27. Director of Sports, Alvin Parker, stated that though news of the cancellations has just emerged, "It is out of respect for the schools and their past participation with our events, we deemed it only necessary to provide everyone concerned with an official statement." Alvin Parker The Sports Director said he was mostly recently informed of this decision by Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Youth Sports and Culture, Clara Gardiner, that there were insufficient funds to stage this year's event; and in light of the recession presently affecting the Turks and Caicos Islands, and indeed the world, the meet would have to be put off. "We apologize to all schools involved for what may seem as late notice," said Parker. "Numerous attempts were made to secure assistance to stage this year's Championships, but to no avail. This also explains the reason for us not having the sponsors' annual press conference, where in which we usually announce this year's National Championships." "Despite the numerous challenges, we at the Sports Commission intend to continue fighting for the continuous development and promotion of sports here in these Turks and Caicos Islands and in particular, track and field events, which is the prime focus." In the short term, Parker said that Sports Commission personnel will be contacting primary and high schools on Providenciales, with the view of hosting a Providenciales Schools' Meet within the same time period that was initially set for the National Championships.   Reads : 480 Back... Comments: No comments on this topic yet. Be the first one to submit a comment. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *