For the second straight year, the Aliann Pompey Invitational (API), Guyana’s annual athletics showpiece has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
It was officially revealed yesterday that organisers of the event, a qualifier for the Olympic Games were forced to pull the plug on the fixture which was scheduled to be hosted at the National Track and Field Centre on June 19.
In a statement, founder, Aliann Pompey said the prevailing COVID-19 measures have significantly impacted on the cancellation of the meet which started in 2016.
“Mainly one of the effects or the by-products of the COVID-19 pandemic which doesn’t allow us to properly prepare to host an international competition of this calibre”.
The four-time Olympian then disclosed that the API organisation will still work on a way to engage the Guyanese public, sponsors, supporters and local athletes later in the year.
“While it wouldn’t replace the API competition for this year, I think it would be a meaningful enough compromise,” said the USA based Pompey stated.
In its inaugural staging, the API enabled 11 athletes, all from overseas, to qualify for Olympic Games in Rio. It was therefore the hope of the event’s organizers to once again be seen as a conduit to the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer.
“With the Tokyo (2020) Games postponed by a year, we were also hoping for a similar event this year where athletes can qualify for the Olympic Games. I know a lot of our national athletes and the athletes from the Americas, mainly South America and the Caribbean, had it on their calendar as a qualifying event, so this affects quite a number of people,” stressed the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medalist.
Nevertheless, Pompey 43, felt the time was right to announce the status of the 2021 event, “Because the preparations of these athletes are going to be greatly impacted, and so we decided to announce today that despite all of our efforts, and it’s definitely a group effort, the sponsors of the event up until the very last minute were completely committed to hosting the event, it’s just that it’s a situation that none of us can control.”
Pompey’s announcement came less than two days after the announcement of the cancellation of the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda, also for the second straight year.
