Olympic Committee warns: Stay clear of the media

The National Olympic Committee (NOC) has given the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association a deadline of October 31, to sort out its internal squabbles.

Secretary of the NOC Keith Joseph in an exclusive interview with SEARCHLIGHT said that a meeting between the NOC and members of the table tennis association September 25, requested the “executive to organise a meeting to flesh out the differences”.{{more}}

Joseph also disclosed that his organisation directed the major players involved in the discord, “to stay clear of the media”.

He said that the NOC views the latest developments in the association as “an internal affair” and should be dealt with in-house.

It has been a bumpy road for the local table tennis body in the past three months as President Sean Stanley and Secretary Julian Sutherland became embroiled in a personality battle, which necessitated the intervention of the NOC.

Much of the impasse filtered into the public domain as neither of the two were willing to work with each other on the executive.

If the dispute is not resolved, one option is for new elections to be called. The last elections were held April 6 and at that Annual General Meeting all members of the executive were elected unopposed.

Khalique Bailey holds the position of First Vice President, Joseph Carrington is the association’s treasurer, with Unica Velox and Kamal Hunte as committee members.

Stanley had a two-year stint in the top position of an Interim Committee set up in 2004, after the Mark Charles led executive was dismantled. The resignation of Elliot Charles who held the position of Public Relations Officer fast-forwarded the April elections.

It was the first time that Sutherland was elected to the executive of the national table tennis association.

In last week’s SportsXtra Magazine published in the SEARCHLIGHT, Sutherland complained of Stanley’s management style accusing him of running the association in a dictatorial manner and called for his resignation. Stanley refused to be drawn into mud-slinging saying he had the support of the other members of the executive and pointed to his track record as evidence of performance.

“Some people get into organisation for different purposes and it amazes me why someone should move so quickly from a darling to a villain,” Stanley said, adding that it is Sutherland who should quit.