T&T withdraws bid to host 2018 Games

A leading sports official in Trinidad and Tobago has disclosed that the two-island nation has withdrawn from bidding to stage the 2018 Commonwealth Games.



Larry Romany, president of the T&T Olympic Committee, says the Commonwealth Games Federation has been informed of the decision.



Romany says the T&T Olympic Committee conducted a full review, open and constructive discussions in respect of all the current and projected circumstances and concluded that progressing a 2018 bid at this time is not a prudent or responsible course of action.



The T&T Olympic Committee president has acknowledged that the current economic crisis played a major part in T&T’s decision not to bid.



T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning had given a strong undertaking that the two-island republic would bid for the Games, after the country had successfully hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting last year.



The Games have not been staged in the Caribbean since Jamaica hosted it in 1966.



The Commonwealth Games Federation is set to announce which city will host the 2018 Games during its annual meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis next year November.



Delhi in India will host this year’s Games, and Glasgow in Scotland will stage the event four years later.