FENNELLTHE COMMONWEALTH Games will provide invaluable experience for a number of the sports disciplines which will compete in Melbourne, according to president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), Mike Fennell.
A large delegation totalling 85 competitors will represent the island in Melbourne as the JOA tries to open the doors to more international competition for as number of local sports.
"We have taken a deliberate decision to take not only clear medal potential, but also other sports as this is part of their international development," said Fennell shortly before leaving for Melbourne on March 3.
The JOA boss, who also holds the high-profile post of president of the Common-wealth Games Federation (CGF), the body which oversees the running of the Games, identified badminton, table tennis, squash, cycling and boxing as five of the sports which needed this international exposure.
Fennell said current sponsorship of the JOA helped a great deal in financing the team to Melbourne.
GRANT
"The financing of the team has come from a number of sources. Firstly, we get a grant from the organisers which covers about 50 per cent of our travel cost. We have very good sponsorship from Puma which continues through the four-year (Olympic) period. We also have sponsorship from Digicel which continues through the four-year period."
Fennell was cautiously optimistic about Jamaica's medal chances in Melbourne.
"Well, you know there are expectations on paper, and there is reality. If you look at it on paper, we have a team that could do even better than Manchester in terms of medal count. But there are always things that come into play.
"For example we were very surprised and disappointed at the withdrawal of Usain Bolt. He would have been a very important member of our team both as an individual and for relay and that's the sort of thing that happens to many teams. Jamaica is not the only team that suffers from these sort of setbacks.
"Yes, we have a very strong team and we have very high expectations for our results, but the main thing is to get to Melbourne first, get the team properly settled and to ensure that everybody can compete to their utmost."
Fennell was full of praise for the facilities in Melbourne.
"Melbourne has some of the best sporting facilities to be found anywhere in the world. In addition they have built some new facilities. The main stadium that will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics, the well known and historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), has been totally transformed into a modern arena. A lot of money has been spent on it. It has seating capacity of more than 100,000 and it certainly will be a tremendous venue.
"In addition to that they have constructed a brand new swimming pool, despite the fact that they have other swimming pools in Melbourne .
"There is also the Vodaphone Arena which is a top-class modern multi-purpose arena. It will host a number of sports, the netball finals will be there, some cycling events will be there as it also has a Velodrome. It will also host the netball final although the preliminaries will be played elsewhere."
E. Tucker
