THE National Sport Commission (NSC) is refuting claims that it refused to assist those athletes that are in the United States for the Penn Relays. Contacted last evening by Chronicle Sport, Sport Director Christopher Jones contended that he met with two members of the team twice, the latter meeting being last week Thursday (April 21) and he did not hear from them again.
“Following that meeting, I contacted the Regional Education Officer Mr Owen Pollard to get some more information regarding the students and he told me that they were not all from Fort Wellington School. Some came from schools including Mahaichony and Bush Lot Secondary,” Jones said.
He noted that the Penn Relays invited a high school or college, not a mixture of schools.
While he did offer to offset accommodation for two athletes, he noted that at their time of the initial approach, they had done no fundraising to offset their initial budget, pegged at G$4.2M.
Jones also confirmed to Chronicle Sport, that the NSC cannot ‘send’ anyone to get their United States VISA as it has no control over the issuing and granting of such, as also being reported in the some sections of media.
Jones stated that more concerning the matter will be released tomorrow.