The Sport Ministry has issued a statement following “public claims” regarding funding for athletes participating in the upcoming South American Championship in Chile.

In a statement, it says there was no request for funding from either Jimmy Winter, President of Team Elite Martial Arts Academy, or his organisation.

Instead, it says there is only an incomplete funding application submitted by the Pan American Kickboxing Association of Trinidad and Tobago on August 20th 2024.

It says this application came two months before the tournament, and was therefore outside the Ministry’s requirement that completed applications be submitted at least three months prior to an event to allow for timely processing.

The Ministry’s statement goes on to say, “The July 2024 submission deadline was especially critical for events occurring at the end of the year, given the need for the Ministry’s preparations to close off accounts for each fiscal year in preparation for the National Budget exercise. However, it is important to note that PKATT failed to meet the required deadline, compounded by the fact that they submitted an incomplete application package.”

The Ministry says on August 28th 2024, it contacted PKATT via email requesting the submission of outstanding documents which included details about the event, the NGB’s Certificate of Incorporation, the contact information for relevant members, parental consent forms for the minors and the updated passport biodata pages for the adults who are listed to accompany the minors, since the passports of the two adults were expired.

It claims there was no response until October 3rd 2024, with only some of the requested information being submitted.

The Ministry says, “It was only on October 14th, just thirteen days before the event and one day after the circulation of misleading information on social media that PKATT began making efforts to submit the outstanding documents. To date, the application is still incomplete with PKATT still promising to submit outstanding documents to facilitate the process.”

The Ministry says it has previously supported the PKATT, providing financial support to the tune of $103,000 as recently as December 2023.

In this regard, it claims PKATT has not submitted the mandatory completion report to account for these funds, adding that applicants must account for funds received before receiving new or additional funds.

The Ministry insists it is still working with PKATT to process their application as soon as all documents are received, however with only 11 days left before the tournament, it warns there is no guarantee that the process would be completed in time for their international travel.

The South American Championship is scheduled for October 28th to November 4th 2024.