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Football and Track & Field are set to be included in what could be Bermuda's strongest ever Island Games team, bound for Rhodes in July.

A men's soccer team, most likely a development squad, will be included for the first time in the travelling party, providing the necessary funding can be secured.

The national women's team, which picked up a bronze medal in Shetland last time, is also expected to travel.

And athletics, controversially omitted in previous years, has also indicated that it will send a team this time around.

Bermuda will field athletes for 11 of the 14 major events on the Island Games roster, Jon Gazzard, secretary of the organizational committee confirmed yesterday.

The men's national basketball team will be back to defend their crown on the Greek island, while tennis, volleyball and cycling are among the other sports included in the sports festival - a mini-Olympics for small islands.

Bermuda will also send teams to three separate competitions, affiliated to the Island Games, for gymnastics in the Isle of Man, badminton in Greenland and squash in Guernsey, later in the year.

There will be no shooting team in this year's competition after the association declined the invitation, citing lack of preparation time.

David Sabir, general secretary of the Bermuda Football Association, said the intention was to send men's and women's teams, if possible.

But he said the men's team would probably be a development XI, which would be more in keeping with the standard of the competition.

He said the BFA's plans were to have teams involved in serious international competition at all levels and age groups.

But the bulk of those plans depend on the Government's consideration of its six-year strategic plan and it's bid for financial support for a proposed $36million investment.

The Bermuda Track and Field Association is also likely to have bigger fish to fry this year with the Pan Am games in Rio and a series of club championships in the States.

But president Clarence Smith said the association would sanction any athletes who wanted to compete under the BTFA banner.

He said it was more likely to be older athletes or recreational competitors that made up the bulk of the team and suggested his son - May 24 legend Kavin, could be among them.

Anyone who wants to compete in track and field at the games and can meet the required standards should contact the BTFA at 296-0951.[[In-content Ad]]

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