Pistol shooter Alan Markewicz of St. Albert is on target to compete for Canada at the Commonwealth Games in India.
Markewicz and Canadian shooter Patricia Boulay of Kingston, Ont. were planning to leave Wednesday, but their departure for New Delhi was delayed by Commonwealth Games Canada officials over issues with hygiene, plumbing and electricity in some of the athletes’ village residences.
“Right now I’m scheduled to fly out Sunday [as well as Boulay]. That was agreed a couple of days ago as probably the best date to make sure there weren’t any other glitches,” Markewicz said Friday.
Canada was among several countries to voice concerns over the delays in completing the athletes’ village. Two Canadian archers and an alternate withdrew Wednesday. A scattering of athletes from other countries also pulled out over the state of readiness.
The Canadian women’s field hockey team and some of Canada’s mission staff were told to wait before they got the green light to leave for India.
Organizers had to deal with Tuesday’s collapse of a pedestrian bridge connecting a parking lot with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics events. Also, part of a false ceiling at the weightlifting venue crashed onto the field of play Wednesday.
“From what I understand the competition venues have been in great shape. They’ve been ready to go, it’s just been the accommodations,” said Markewicz.
The Lt.-Col. with the Land Force Western Area headquarters in Edmonton took the delay in stride.
“I wanted to get into India as scheduled. I had a whole training plan lined out for my arrival date to my competition date. Of course, losing four days of that took a big chunk out of that preparation time when I got there so it was really disappointment more than anxiety,” he said. “I’ve tried to be positive all through this so I’ve been taking the opportunity to do a little bit of training here and get a couple of other little things done that I couldn’t get done beforehand and not worry too much about it.”
Markewicz, 53, is going to his first Commonwealth Games after attending several military world shooting championships.
“You had to be part of the national team and I managed to get onto the developmental squad for the national team, which makes you eligible to try out for these things and then they did have trial matches, which were run specifically for getting scores to qualify for the Games,” he said.
He will go for the gold in the 10-metre air pistol, 25-metre Olympic rapid-fire, 25-metre centre fire pistol and 50-metre free pistol.
“I’m normally strongest in the centre fire pistol but I’m hoping to have a good performance in all four of them.”
Among his many career highlights in the sport were first-place finishes at the Canadian championships and “some good matches” three years ago at the Military World Games in India.
“The support I’ve been getting from the military, in allowing me time off to do some of these things, has been helpful.”
The Canadian delegation originally scheduled to attend the Oct. 3 to 14 Games included 255 athletes, 51 coaches, 52 mission staff and 42 other support staff.
