Na­tion­al cy­cling coach and tech­ni­cal di­rec­tor of the T&T Cy­cling Fed­er­a­tion Erin Hartwell has sought to clear the air on the in­abil­i­ty of the lo­cal sprint team to qual­i­fy for this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo Japan, by say­ing ‘this is not true.’

In an in­ter­view yes­ter­day Hartwell made it clear the team is 562 points be­hind in the race but not­ed it is not im­pos­si­ble.

His com­ments came af­ter cy­clists Njisane Phillip and Ker­ron Bram­ble said they were pulling out of the team for the com­ing UCI Cy­cling World Cup in Cana­da from Jan­u­ary 24-25, and the World Cham­pi­onship in Ger­many next month be­cause they (the team) could not qual­i­fy for the Olympic Games again.

The duo has al­so said, they will be coach­ing them­selves for the 2024 Olympics.

The two were part of the T&T sprint team that was stripped of the gold medal they won at the Pan Amer­i­can Games in Li­ma, Pe­ru in Au­gust last year, af­ter a mem­ber was test­ed pos­i­tive for drug use. Be­cause of this, Phillip was al­so stripped of his in­di­vid­ual sprint sil­ver medal.

Hartwell said on Wednes­day, “There are some 1500 points avail­able out there to be gained for some 10 to 11 teams, still pur­su­ing one of eight spots at the Olympics. And for the World Cham­pi­onship, the points would be dou­ble.”

How­ev­er, Hartwell faces a re­al predica­ment with Phillip out his team, a po­si­tion that leaves him with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of hav­ing one sec­ond-man rid­er and three third-leg cy­clists in his team at the World Cham­pi­onship.

Quin­cy Alexan­der, who comes in the team as a re­place­ment for Phillip, has been a third-man rid­er in the set-up, along with Kwe­si Browne and Bram­ble, who was lat­er con­vert­ed to a first-man rid­er, as Hartwell sought to strength­en his unit in the sprints. “It will be chal­leng­ing but by no means im­pos­si­ble,” Hartwell ex­plained.

On­ly yes­ter­day, David Fran­cis, man­ag­er of the T&T team for the Cana­da World Cup said the T&T Cy­cling Fed­er­a­tion was cur­rent­ly in the process of talk­ing to Hartwell, to ver­i­fy where the coun­try’s sprint team stands and what is re­quired to qual­i­fy.

Last week the TTCF se­lect­ed a three-man team com­pris­ing of Nicholas Paul, Quin­cy Alexan­der and Kwe­si Browne for the Cana­da World Cup and World Cham­pi­onships.

How­ev­er, Hartwell made it clear the team se­lect­ed was on­ly for the Cana­da World Cup, as the team for the World Cham­pi­onship can on­ly be sub­mit­ted when the UCI gives the go-ahead.

Hartwell al­so told Guardian Me­dia Sports that news­pa­per re­ports yes­ter­day was when he found out that Bram­ble and Phillip had pulled out of the team. “As far as I am aware, an ath­lete re­tir­ing from the team must no­ti­fy the cy­cling fed­er­a­tion, who will then in­form me.”

He lat­er said the is­sue be­tween him and Phillip, con­cern­ing the re­moval of cy­cling wheels and equip­ment, is be­ing ad­dressed by the fed­er­a­tion.