Jamaica's University Games success under threat

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

A NUMBER of Jamaica's world-class athletes and their coaches, who have been preparing to compete at the World University Games (WUG) in Kazan, Russia this summer, could have their hopes dashed as there is only enough money to send a handful of athletes to the games that are staged every two years by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

Thousands of student athletes from more than 170 countries compete in more than 20 sporting disciplines at the World Summer University Games or Universiade that was last held in China. At the last WUG Games held in Shenzhen between August 13 and 23, 2011, Jamaica finished 11th in the medal standings having won nine medals including six gold, two silver and a bronze. Among those who won medals were Rasheed Dwyer, Jason Young, Hansle Parchment, Carrie Russell and Aneisha McClaughlin.

MORE MEDALS

"This year, Jamaica has the potential to top that medal haul. We could realistically win two medals from the 100 to 400 metres, plus a medal in all four relays, the 400 metres hurdles men and women and the 100-metre hurdles, men and women. Surpassing the nine medals in Shenzhen is very likely," said Anthony Davis, president of the Jamaica Intercollegiate Sports Association (JISA).

The FISU provides three plane tickets to Kazan but the bulk of funding is derived from sponsors. JISA needs about eight milliondollars to send the best team possible, but because of lack of sponsorship support, only a few athletes might be able to make the trip. "Ideally, we can identify 12 each, male and female track and field athletes whose seasons suggest they could medal. Additionally, currently the top table tennis players and badminton players have been shortlisted. We will be taking athletes outside of track and field for only the second time in Intercol history but because of lack of funding, we might be able to send a table tennis and badminton player but no coaches for those sports," said Davis.

Davis, the director of sports at the University of Technology is also in the FISU Education Committee and will act as chef de mission for the Jamaican delegation attending the games. He revealed that because of the challenges with financing the trip, JISA might also be forced to cut the number of track and field athletes they are able to send.

FEWER Athletes

"We have now reduced the squad to nine men and six women. At this point, we can be assured only of two men and two women, a track coach and manager," he said. If we secure $5 million, we can include a physiotherapist and coaches for the racquet sports, as well as adding 11 athletes but without the support, we will not even be able to enter the relays.

Track and field athletes are normally selected from the highest placed finishers at the national championships. However, this year the WUG is being held between July 6 and 17 and so preliminary entries were required by June 6. As such, a different system of selection had to be used. "We selected a pool from Intercol results and then monitor the USA's National Collegiate Athletic Association circuit and added to our pool," Davis revealed. "The final selection is based on the average times for the first place over the last three WUG. Students whose season bests are within that band are given the preference."

In addition to the possible missed opportunity of reaping a rich bounty of medals, a weakened Jamaican team could also serve to embarrass the island that stands to lose out on major exposure."We had a feature on our athletes by Eurosport, and Russian TV did a feature on our athletes. They took shots of Culture Yard in Trench Town and interviewed the head of Jampro," Davis revealed. "So Intercol is contributing significantly to exposing Jamaica to the world."