The Equestrian team was an inspiration for all after they won the TUG-O-WAR against much bigger competition. This battle came during the Opening Ceremony of the Barbados Independence Invitational Games over the weekend.
BiiG things officially happening
Pirates Cove on Baystreet was littered with Barbados’ National Federations as they gathered for the Opening Ceremony of the Barbados Independence Invitational Games on Saturday Afternoon.
A cool afternoon welcomed everyone in attendance as the second edition of the revitalised annual BiiG events got underway. Participating in the events which are slated for just over four weeks are 29 federations and they all met at the popular Pirates Cove to officially open the games. Some of the teams present started the afternoons proceedings with some friendly rivalry in Tug-O-War.
The hour-long session showed that one can never underestimate the youth and a person’s size. The Rugby squad and even the Wrestling squad, never made it to the final round. It was the Sailors versus the Equestrians in the finals and though the latter was composed of very young athletes, they had a good anchor behind them. In the end to the surprise, but admiration of all the little ones prevailed.
The evening was about fun but also the seriousness of officially opening this year’s games. Present was the new and first ever female President of the Barbados Olympic Association, Sandra Osbourne, who was very pleased with the response of the federations to the call to celebrate Barbados’ independence through the events. The featured speaker was Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley, who also lauded the efforts of all those involved. He then officially opened the games after the oath of officials and atheletes by the lighting of BiiG flame with the help of Osbourne and Dylan Frost of the Equestrian team, who won the overall challenges for the day.
Things ran smoothly and the support was outstanding to open the games. The hope is that all the slated sporting disciplines for the month will also be free of major issues as Barbados celebrates its 61st anniversary of independence. The public are encouraged and welcomed to patronise all the events featured during the games as they are mostly free of cost.