Dacres slams throwing circle at Stadium
Published:Sunday | February 23, 2020 | 12:45 AMRaymond Graham - Sunday Gleaner Writer
THE country’s most successful discus thrower at the international level, Fredrick Dacres, slammed the throwing circle at the National Stadium after pulling out of the event at yesterday’s sixth staging of the S.W. Isaac-Henry Invitational meet.
Dacres, the 2018 Commonwealth gold medallist and last year’s silver medallist in the event at the Doha World Athletics Championships, told The Sunday Gleaner that he will refuse to compete at the National Stadium in future if something is not done about the throwing area.
“I am extremely disappointed and it is very annoying to know that we come to compete and they do not have a suitable throwing surface inside our National Stadium. As throwers, we cannot glide inside the circle as there is no friction there, and I can’t believe this is how they are treating us as throwers,” the 25-year-old said.
It’s not the first time he has had an issue with the throwing area at the country’s main stadium.
“Sometime in the past, I had an issue with this and I thought they would have remedied the situation, but I think they do not care. They need to destroy the present ring and build a new one,” he added.
The Tokyo Olympic Games is scheduled for this summer and Dacres thinks he and his colleagues are in danger of not qualifying for that global event as they will not compete at the National Senior Championships if something is not done about the ring.
THROWERS UNITED
“We want to represent our country at the highest level and I have the support of my fellow throwers. We are in danger of not competing at Tokyo, as we will not compete at the National Championships if that ring is not fixed, as this is a big joke,” he concluded.
The 2018 RJRGleaner National Sportsman of the Year has had some of his most underwhelming performances at the National Stadium. Last year at the National Championships, he had four foul attempts and ended up with a best of 63.39 metres, well below his national record of 70.78m. The event was won by Traves Smikle, who threw 63.66m to pocket the national title.