Gov support for Bajan W/Cup bid

BRIDGETOWN: Barbados rolled out their World Cup bid in a press launch on Wednesday where the Sports Minister Reginald Farley pledged the Government’s support. The event launched World Cup Barbados Incorporated, the company established to co-ordinate Barbados’ bid to stage cricket events and matches during World Cup 2007. President of the Barbados Cricket Association, Stephen Alleyne, is the chief executive officer of the project company. Alleyne spoke glowingly of the country’s worth as a venue to stage major games at Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 among the 13 nations bidding to stage matches.

And Sports Minister Farley expressed confidence in the Caribbean to be successful hosts. “2007 will be for the Caribbean region, a major test of our capacity to undertake a major world event. Events of the calibre such as the Olympic Games and the football World Cup, are usually seen as suitable for large countries, usually in a developed world.” “We in the Caribbean have an opportunity to show why this region has defied all of the odds, why this region has overcome small size, why this region has overcome a limited resource base to become a stable, democratic, peaceful and generally prosperous oasis in an otherwise turbulent world. We can and we will give the world the best Cricket World Cup the world has ever seen,” Farley said. The Sports Minister said Barbados will be critical to the successful staging of Cricket World Cup 2007 and will be assertive in its bid to secure major games. “Barbados must and will be bold, confident and extremely unapologetic in stating its claim to be the host and staging point of major events in the West Indies Cricket World Cup 2007,” he said.

Claiming the Barbados Kensington Oval to be the “second most famous cricket ground in the entire world,” Farley said the venue would be further boosted by massive renovations. “Barbados will spend millions of dollars to redevelop Kensington Oval to meet and exceed the current ICC standards for international Test and one-day cricket.” The other 12 countries bidding to stage games are, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St  Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA. The Bid Book, containing the detailed requirements for hosting matches in 2007, will be distributed on February 19, which will officially signal the start of the bid process.