Tobago to host athletics at 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games

All track and field events at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games will be hosted at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago.

Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe made this announcement on Thursday at the welcome ceremony for retuning Commonwealth Games athletes at Piarco International Airport.

Cudjoe, who joined team TT for part of the Games in Birmingham, England two weeks ago, was also part of the 10th Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting there, on July 27.

Coming out of that meeting, Cudjoe said, “We already began conversations for planning the Commonwealth Youth Games which will be hosted by TT next year August.

“We are working on recycling some of the material used at Commonwealth Games 2022 as part of our project to get ready for 2023.

“We also spoke about doing the athletics side of the Commonwealth Youth Games in Tobago, because when the Commonwealth officials came to TT they were blown away by the Dwight Yorke Stadium and Tobago.

“We are looking at beach volleyball and some of the other beach games for Tobago also. It’s a lot of work to be done between now and next year. We will be more than happy to welcome the rest of the world to Tobago.”

The Tobago West MP said that cycling (National Cycling Centre), swimming (National Aquatic Centre) and a number of other events will take place in Trinidad.

The Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting was geared towards advancing the Commonwealth consensus and co-operation on key sport policy issues across the Commonwealth.

TT will stage the seventh edition of this competition in 2023. The first Commonwealth Youth Games was held in Scotland in 2000 with the event subsequently hosted in Australia, India, Isle of Man, Samoa and the Bahamas in 2017.

Cudjoe said she also held conversations with representatives of former host nations to get a clearer understanding of what is required to ensure the event is a resounding success.

She is also being guided by TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Diane Henderson, TTOC member Annette Knott and Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) president Brian Lewis, a former TTOC head.