Intercol seeks athletes for University Games
WITH the National Senior Championships set to begin on June 23 at the National Stadium, the Jamaica Intercollegiate Sports Association is proposing to send 10 men and 10 women to the World University Summer Games in August.
While most athletes will focus on making the team for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea, Intercol is hoping that eligible athletes will consider representing their country at the university games, officially called the FISU Summer Universiade which will take place in Shenzhen, China on August 12-22.
Jamaica will take part only in track and field at the 26th Summer Universiade, a multi-sport championship put on by International University Sports Federation (FISU).
The last time Jamaica’s tertiary student-athletes took these games seriously was in 2005 when Marvin Essor and DeWayne Barrett were one-two in the 400 metres, with Gregory Little taking the bronze in the 400m hurdles in Izmir, Turkey.
President of Intercol, Anthony Davis noted that FISU rules stipulate that participants for any of its events must be “between the ages of 17-28 in the year of competition; be a registered student in a university (not limited to the home country of the student), and be the holder of a passport of the country represented”.
He also stated that “student athletes who graduated in the year before the staging of the games are eligible and must present proof of graduation”.
Instead of hosting separate trials for the university games, Davis said the results from the National Senior Championships would be used instead.
“The highest-placed student athletes in the National Trials will be invited to represent Jamaica, provided their results make them competitive at the international level,” Davis explained.