ANDY BANKS remains hopeful that Plymouth Diving’s 13-year-old wonderkid Victoria Vincent will be allowed to compete at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Vincent is deemed a year too young to compete for England despite winning her first senior title at the British Championships at Sheffield earlier this month.
Athletes or in Vincent’s case divers are not allowed to compete at a World Championship, Olympic Games or a World Cup event until they are 14.
But there is no mention of that prohibition when it comes to the Commonwealth Games and there have been examples in the recent past of where, admittedly exceptional athletes, have been allowed to participate.
Banks told Herald Sport that he is aware of an appeal lodged by England diving chiefs to have Vincent added to the squad for the Glasgow Games.
“So far as I know, there has been an appeal lodged on behalf of Victoria by England,” said Banks, who is the youngster’s coach.
“We are all hopeful that there will be a positive outcome to the appeal.”
Plymouth Diving have four athletes already selected for the Games, including another of their impressive youngsters Matthew Dixon, who also won a first senior British title at Pond’s Forge.
Dixon, who is 14, took the men’s 10m platform crown and is in the 15-strong Team England Commonwealth Games diving team.
He joins Olympians and former European synchro platform champions Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow, and double World Series medal winner Dan Goodfellow from Plymouth Diving on the bus to Glasgow.
Previous examples of where divers aged under 14 have been allowed to compete at the Commonwealth Games include Canadians Alex Despatie and Rachel Kemp.
Despatie, an inspiration to a young Tom Daley, was 13 when he won gold from the top board in 1998, while Kemp was also 13 when she competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Gamess in Melbourne, Australia.
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