In a press conference yesterday, the Pan American Sporting Organization vice president Michael Fennel urged the authorities to speed up the work on all the sporting facilities, warning that the Games might not be able to take place if urgent measures are not applied. These comments follow a three-day inspection by the Jamaican official, during which he expressed concern about the delays in the construction and equipping of sporting installations. Fennel also highlighted the cash-flow problems affecting some payments to suppliers, and said there were many small details that needed to be tended to in the next few days.
List?n Diario reported yesterday that delays in the payments to the suppliers of the Omega electronic timing equipment and scoreboards have deferred their installation.
Fennel said he visited 29 of the 35 works, in none of which had the timing equipment been installed. ?Without [this equipment] it is difficult to carry out the games,? said Fennel, as reported in Hoy newspaper. He did say, however, that there is still time to make the necessary installations and expressed his optimism that events would be successfully held in the 35 venues.
List?n Diario reported that as there is no time to hold actual sports events at many of the refurbished and new venues built for the Pan American Games, the events will have to be simulated and tested by Dominican athletes. ?We are not going to have much time to test the electronic systems and we have agreed with the Organizing Committee that where actual test events cannot be held, there will be simulated tests to ensure that on the first day of competitions all is correctly working,? Michael Fennell said during the press conference. The simulated competitions will take place in rowing and canoeing, swimming, cycling and equestrian events. Track & field test events will start on 20 July. The Badminton Pan American championships open on Monday to test the new facility. A Caribbean Shooting Tournament starts tomorrow in Sans Souci to test that facility with competitors from Puerto Rico, Curacao, Aruba, Barbados, Virgin Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic.