By IANS,
Wellington : At 69 and 73, George Paice and Gerald Reive will be among the oldest participants to compete in the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games here.
The gutsy duo of Paice and Reive will be competing in the lawn bowls event, representing a tiny British Overseas Territory Falkland Islands, having a population of 3,140 permanent residents.
Remarkably, Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic Ocean, does not even possess a single bowling green.
Paice and Reive are training hard for their Games debut in Delhi and said they never thought competing at such an elderly age.
“I never thought, at 73, I would be an athlete,” Reive was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald Wednesday.
“When they first brought the idea a couple of years ago, I was flabbergasted. It was a bit of a surprise to be quite honest. But then we thought: ‘Oh yeah, let’s give it a go.”
“I never thought that we would ever be doing something like this. Going together makes it even better. I am coming back as an international,” said Paice.
The two old men are long time friends from their younger days in the Falkland Island and the bond got stronger even when they moved to New Zealand in the 1960s.
Paice did not tell about his Delhi escapades for a long time as he was unsure about the trip.
“I did not want to make a song and dance about it because I thought it might not happen. So I didn’t tell anyone. But then four or five months ago things took off and the trip was on.
“I asked my friend Reive to come with me because he is a former Falklander too,” Paice said.
“Gerald was keen to take his wife Shirley, so he asked the trip organiser Michael Summers if she could come along. And he said that every team needs a manager, so she got the job.
“She has had an enormous amount of work to do, the paperwork has been colossal, but it’s all done, and we leave in two weeks.”
Reive said he is not too hopeful about his medal chances but just the experience of being part of the Oct 3-14 extravaganza will be special.
“I would not be too hopeful about that! But hopefully there are some teams who we can beat. It is not like that we are going to be at the bottom.”
“Just taking part is something special and meeting with other members of the team and from around the world. I hope the games go on without a hitch,” said Reive.
Paice and Reive will fly to India with the New Zealand squad and the fellow Falkland Islands 15-member squad. Apart from Lawn Bowls, the tiny nation will take part in badminton and shooting.