André Lowe, Special Projects Editor - Sports

BEIJING, China:

Team manager, Ludlow Watts, has rejected Stephen Francis' arguments about the management of Jamaica's training camp ahead of the World Championships.

Francis questioned the usefulness of the camp, and blamed the team's management for causing some of his and other athletes to miss several days of training and compromising their preparations with the World Championships just around the corner.

The MVP Track Club coach said some athletes were given extremely difficult travel itineraries, while there were also issues at check-in at the team hotel in Beijing, with athletes waiting for hours before being given keys to their rooms.

However, speaking to STAR Sports, Watts defended the travel arrangements and pointed to what he described as unavoidable delays experienced upon arrival at the team hotel.

"If there is a criticism it would not be based on good judgment," Watts rebutted.

Watts, who also serves as treasurer for the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), insisted that the camp was a valuable exercise and believes it was the best the team has organised in recent times.

"I am not 100 per cent satisfied with everything, but I believe we have made enough preparations to do well here," Watts stated.

"This is the best camp we have had in history, and we have had several. The feedback that we have had from the athletes, coaches, and management staff is that we have had a fantastic camp," said Watts.

"I think the mood in the camp is generally good."

"I don't know if there was any difference from people travelling internationally, from Germany to France for instance," said Watts, in reference to the travel arrangements made for the athletes.

He also said language issues and high traffic were the main reasons behind the hotel check-in delays

"When you get into a hotel when you have 10 other teams and 1,000 people coming in and five teams coming in at the same time, it cannot be as smooth as people walking through the alley, but we are satisfied with what we did with the resources available and the circumstances," said Watts.