Jamaica to send 88 competitors to Special Olympics

Members and coaches of the Jamaican Special Olympics team

San Juan, July 21 (IANS) Jamaica is sending a delegation of 88 athletes to the Special Olympics to be held between July 25 and August 2 in Los Angeles.

Athletes will be competing in swimming, badminton, basketball, football (male and female), volleyball and track and field, Jamaica Special Olympics executive director Lorna Bell said in a statement on Monday, reports Efe.

Bell said the delegation includes two athletes older than 45 - Alton Carter, 47, and Vincent Evans, 51 - who will compete in bocce, a sport similar to lawn bowling.

"This year they have offered a special event for persons over 45 years old," she said, adding that Carter and Evans "are going to do extremely well because this is the sport they have been playing all their lives".

The Special Olympics World Summer Games have been held every four years since 1962.

This year's event is to include 177 countries, 7,000 athletes, 3,000 coaches and 30,000 volunteers, according to the organisers.