91Èȱ¬

The chairman of the International Island Games Association says Guernsey is capable of hosting the best Island Games ever next year.

The week-long event in July 2023 was postponed by two years due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Delegates from the member islands are in Guernsey inspecting venues and having discussions with a year to go.

"We think that the next games will be the best ever," Jorgen Pettersson told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Guernsey.

"Guernsey is the first of our member islands who have become the host for the third time and we appreciate that very much, it shows leadership and it's an inspiration to the rest of our member islands as well.

"Guernsey, as we all know, is a sporting island. The venues are there, the enthusiasm's there, the knowledge of hosting big events is there, so there is really nothing else but the competitors that we're missing for the moment."

Guernsey has previously hosted the 1997 and 2003 Island Games, and more than 3,000 competitors, coaches and officials are expected to be in the island from 8-14 July next year.

Pettersson says the delegates coming together in Guernsey has reminded him how important the Island Games are to the sporting communities of its member islands, having had a four-year wait for their last event due to the pandemic.

"We struggled to understand what was actually happening to start with, we all remember the spring of 2020 when we thought this might be over pretty soon and we had to realise that it's not," he said.

"First we needed to make the decision to postpone the games by not one year but two, and then we had to encourage the member islands to continue to be into sport.

"We did have a digital event for running amongst all our member islands, and that was popular, but we have probably realised over these two years of calming down, that it's not what we're here for.

"We're here for competition and friendship, and competition and friendship is done in real life, not done over a Teams meeting."