The Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA) will host its first executive meeting since news broke 10 days ago that the body had failed to register four junior athletes for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated for August 27-31 in Lima, Peru.
The meeting, according to sources, will be held at the YASCO Sports Complex on today, August 23, and is slated to start at 6pm. The sole purpose of the gathering is to discuss the circumstances which led to the association missing two registration deadlines set by World Athletics for the final registration of athletes who had qualified for the international event.
The body is yet to make a public statement on the matter since president, Everton Cornelius, has offered no comments to the media.
Sprinters Kasiya Daley, Ajani Daley and Geolyna Dowdye, 2022 Under-17 Carifta gold medallist in the 100 meters, Dwayne Fleming and LaNica Locker had all qualified for the event. Locker had however, reportedly opted out of going to the meet. The athletes all hail from the Power Speed Endurance (PSE) track club.
The PSE Coach, Teddy Daley, who is also an executive member of the association, had expressed his disappointment with the development, adding he had made several enquiries with other executive members regarding the registration of the athletes.
The athletes recently broke their silence on the matter, calling for better administration of the sport and for those in authority to take responsibility for the recent debacle.
Sprinters Ajani and Dowdye achieved the world juniors standard in both the 100 and 200 metres sprint events at the National Championships. Ajani clocked 10.34 seconds on day one of the meet to eclipse the 10.55 qualifying standard, while registering a time of 20.99 seconds in the 200 meters. The world juniors qualifying standard for the men’s 200 meters is 21.35 seconds.
Dowdye, who had a stellar National Championships, hit the World Under-20 100 meters mark when she clocked 11.51 seconds at the YASCO Sports Complex. Her performance bettered the 11.78 standard set by World Athletics.
The Princess Margaret School (PMS) student returned to register 23.41 and clinch the 200 meters while claiming a place at the World Under-20 Championships. The qualifying standard is 24.35 seconds.
Fleming posted a time of 10.40 seconds in the 100 meters to book his ticket to Peru. The PMS alumni also qualified for the 200 meters with a time of 21.06, but would not have contested the latter as countries are only allowed two athletes per event.
The other qualifier in the men’s 200 meters is Kasiya who registered a time of 20.96 at the nationals to secure his ticket to Peru. Rounding off the qualifications for the World Under-20 Championships is Locker who registered a time of 23.59 seconds.
