The Tribune

By LEESHAN MORLEY

Tribune Intern

THE opening ceremony for the sixth edition of the Bahamas Games will take place on Saturday at 6pm at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

All of the Family Island teams will be arriving in New Providence on Thursday and will be housed in three different locations for the Games Village at Holiday Inn, The Marriott and Breezes hotel.

It’s estimated that around 3,000 athletes and officials will be participating in the games.

However, according to Keith ‘Belzee’ Smith, the treasurer of the Games Secretary, the housing for the New Providence team has yet to be determined because it was suggested that teams based in New Providence should not be housed in Games Village.

As of today, Smith said there is still back and forth on housing for the New Providence team with three days before the games.

The actual games will begin on Friday at am and continue on Saturday morning.

The budget for the games is not being exposed at this time, according to Smith. But he said the government is placing the amount in portals and making decisions on the funds, until then there is no set known amount of funds.

Funding has been distributed to all of the island councils based on what they would need to be prepared for the games.

However, there was concern that arose about the funding not being sufficient for all teams.

This resulted in all teams receiving additional funding to cover any leftover preparation.

“The games are scheduled, and I am very confident that we will pull off these games and it will be successful,” Smith said.

“As we speak, we are still doing the final touches, final preparations and my responsibility of getting funds where it is supposed to be.”

• The venues for the games will be held at the following locations:

Anatol Rodges - Basketball and volleyball; Donald Davis Junior High School - basketball; AF Adderly - basketball; Kendall GL Isaacs Gym - basketball and volleyball; Banker Field - softball; Roscoe AL Davies - soccer; Betty Kelly Complex - swimming; Old TAR Stadium - track and field; University of The Bahamas - bodybuilding; National Boxing Center - boxing; National Tennis Center - tennis; Ocean Club, Atlantis - golf; Clifton Pier - cycling; Montague - sailing/Opti sailing; powerlifting - exhibition; Edukarting - exhibition at TAR Stadium.