Funding available for participants in Commonwealth Youth Games

Grants of $180,000 have been made towards getting participants in the Commonwealth Youth Games prepared for 2017 competition.

Of the $180,000, a $60,000 donation was made by the Mustique Charitable Trust, another $60,000 was made by the David Ross Foundation, with the National Olympic Centre making a similar donation.

Speaking yesterday from Olympic House, Lavinia Gunn, who represented both the Mustique Charitable Trust (MCT) and the David Ross Foundation, said that the funding is in keeping with the charitable work done by MCT and David Ross.

“The funds from the Trust have been used to help the athletes engage in competitive sports within the region, to attend competitions over the last… year …,” she said.

Gunn added that Ross’ funding will ensure that the athletes could continue their training and development in St Vincent and the Grenadines and enable them to purchase any sporting equipment and gear that they would need to be at the top of their form and be able to compete against their colleagues within the Commonwealth.

Also speaking, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Athletics Association Keith Joseph explained that they entered an agreement a long time ago with the David Ross Foundation and the Mustique Charitable Trust to help with the preparation of athletes from athletics and swimming.

“It is fortuitous, because normally you go to an institution for assistance; in this case the institution came to us,” he stated.

Joseph noted that Ross expressed an interest in helping SVG, following their participation at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

There will be six representatives from St Vincent and the Grenadines, with Izzy Joachim and Nikolas Sylvester participating in the swimming competition and Jhvon Rawlins, Zita Vincent and Darria Matthias participating in the athletics competition.