By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA), Everton Cornelius, said the body has applied for a grant that could assist in further upgrading the YASCO Sports Complex.
The former national athlete made the disclosure during an interview with Observer media, Cornelius said they have applied to World Athletics (formerly IAAF) for an annual grant to assist with the fencing of the field at the facility.
“I wrote off for a grant from World Athletics which we would get on a yearly basis and if we get that money, if it is approved and we get what we asked for, maybe I could ask if we could divert it to seating because what I really asked for is to fence the field or the inner portion of the track where we always had fenced off. We wanted to fence it properly so people can’t sit or lean on the fence and push it down,” he said.
“We also wanted to put down a room for our physiotherapist so he could operate from there because right now he is using our meeting room to do that when he has to deal with the athletes so we want to give him a space that he could deal with the athletes and doesn’t get in our way when we are having meetings and other gatherings,” he added.
Work on the laying of the certified Mondo surface is expected to be completes within the next week and according to Cornelius, the venue could host its first official meet in the following months.
“We will have nationals, I don’t see it being a problem with having nationals as YASCO. I think what we have to worry about is that we want to have nationals but there is no seating and I know my first vice president is hounding me on a daily basis that we can do something but I would have to look at it,” he said.
Cornelius predicts that with good weather, ongoing work on the laying of the Mondo surface could be completed over the weekend into early next week.