The 51st CARIFTA Games is set to officially commence at the Kirani James Stadium in St. Georges Grenada where over ten countries will be taking part in various meets.
Dominica will be part of the competition with four athletes in the CARIFTA Games 2024. Jamical Titre in boys DISCUSS and Shot Put. Titre has a qualifying throw for the Under 16 shot put of 13.90 meters and has participated in several tournaments and secured positions at the Inter-Secondary Schools Independence Meet in October. The second athlete, Addison James, will also participate in the CARIFTA Games in the Under 20 Javelin throw. After throwing 57.30 meters at the Inter-Secondary Schools Independence Meet in October, he qualified for the games and secured the gold medal in the 2023 CARIFTA Games. The third athlete, Kerelle Etienne, is also ready to blaze the track at the CARIFTA Games 2024. She will participate in the Under 17 100m dash sprint after qualifying for the games. She also set a new national record of 11.70 seconds at the Purewater/JC/R. Danny William met in Jamaica.
Nian Davis is the fourth athlete for Dominica and will take part in Javelin. Davis secured his CARIFTA qualifications with a throw of 47.95 meters.
Joel Hamilton is the coach of the Dominica team and he says the team is “set and ready” for the action.
“We have been at the ground and did the necessary training and final preparations, the athletes look pretty good and ready, we have no serious injuries and all things equal the athletes will go out and give their best,” he said.
He also stated that while everything is done on the day of the competition, he is confident that Dominica has what it takes to “go to the podium.”
“Once it is done properly on the day, I think that we are in a good position to win a few medals.”
Coach Hamilton has called on the Dominican public to lend their “full support to the athletes as they seek to make Dominica proud.”
The events will start with the girls’ 100 m hurdles at 9 am and a grand opening ceremony and the parade of the countries and athletes at 2:30 pm.
By-Carlisle Jno Baptiste in St. Georges, GRENADA
