S'African juniors to attend Champs

A 31-member delegation of South African junior athlete will be attending the 100th staging of the GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Championships set for March 24-27 at the National Stadium.

The delegation, which comprise of 28 athletes from the Willow Ridge Secondary Sports School, is being led by South African Olympian Geraldine Pillay.

Pillay, a 2006 Commonwealth Games 100m silver medallist, is not a stranger to Jamaica, having spent the 2007 season training with the MVP Track Club during the 2007 season.

Sports Minister Olivia Grange says the trip by the South Africans is a move to strengthen ties between both countries in sports and culture.

"As you know, Jamaica is very hot in track and field now and the South Africans have been very interested in our sports development programme and particularly, our success in the shorter distances, and when I went to South Africa earlier this year, we had discussions as to how we could assist each other in several areas, including arts and culture, as well as sports," Grange said.

The South African youths, who compete in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and hurdle events, are expected to arrive in Jamaica on March 22. They will leave the island on March 30.

"I had spoken to the South Africans about how our athletics programme worked and the development of our athletes from the school stage and about Champs and they were very fascinated to understand how it works, so they decided to send a group of children to Jamaica to understand our process," Grange said.

The sports ministry is making arrangement for the South African delegation to meet with a number of the nation's top track and field coaches.

"They will be learning from us, while we also intend to learn from them in developing the longer distance and endurance events. So we're working out the programmes as to how both countries will be able to assist each other to develop programmes which are mutually beneficial to the peoples of both countries," Grange added.

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