BAHAMAS is the only contender bidding to replace fellow Caribbean island St. Lucia as host of the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games.
Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Louise Martin is set to announce Bahamas as the only nation to formally express interest in hosting the event at a Sports Breakfast in Malta she is co-hosting with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat during a Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting on the Mediterranean Island.
Northern Ireland will also be announced as the only bidder for the 2021 edition, as had already been widely mooted, with a final decision to be made on both Games at a CGF Executive Board meeting in January,
St. Lucia, awarded the 2017 event in November 2011, decided they were not in a fit state to bring the Games to the Caribbean in two years’ time due to doubts over venues and financial concerns, particularly over the lack of a stadium to host athletics.
Bahamas will have no such problem, and is likely to build its bid around the 15,000-seater Thomas A Robinson stadium in capital city Nassau, which has hosted the first two editions of the 2014 and 2015 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Relays.