ANOCES to prop up subregional sporting championships

The Association of National Olympic Committees of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (ANOCES) will undertake the advancement of nine sporting disciplines in the subregion.

ANOCES, at its recent annual congress held in Grenada recently, made the decision to ensure that there are “systematic development and hosting of annual subregional championships under its ambit for the period 2018 – 2020”.

The nine disciplines listed are athletics, swimming, boxing, netball, cycling, beach volleyball, table tennis, football and 3×3 basketball.

According to general secretary of ANOCES Keith Joseph, the decision in respect of the sports selected was based on the criteria of “Participation by all members of ANOCES; clear development pathway for the sport; history of success of the countries in the subregion; universality access as it relates to the CAC, Pan Am, Commonwealth and Olympic Games; sports that are already supported by our NOCs; gender equity; performance appraisal”.

Apart from the enhancement of the nine sporting disciplines, the assembly also agreed to convene a meeting with the key stakeholders to discuss the decision and give encouragement where none exists, and the establishment of subregional structures to manage the development process of the initiative taken.

ANOCES, in addition, wants the headships of the selected sports to work in concert with their confederations, so that the subregional championships be listed as designated qualifiers.

As a bridge to the process, the third edition of the OECS Track and Field Championships, staged at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium in Grenada, July 1 and 2, had the backing of ANOCES.

Already in place as well are regular subregional championships in swimming, netball and cycling, whilst there have been sporadic hosting of boxing and table tennis competitions.

During the operations of the OECS Sports Desk under Joseph “Reds” Perreira, which started in September 1984, there were annual champions declared in basketball, football, netball, swimming, table tennis, boxing, half marathon, cycling; there was a champion of champions among netball clubs and court volleyball.

The annual Eastern Caribbean Central Bank/OECS Under-23 Netball Tournament has been sustained, having been installed in 1991, and has gone uninterrupted since.