Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney flatly rejected being interviewed by The Royal Gazette during Bermuda's World Cup qualifying play-off match against Oman on Saturday.

The Minister, who didn't attend any of Bermuda's group games when they were eliminated from the qualifying tournament, turned up just in time to see his son, Glenn jr, score the winning runs as Bermuda successfully chased down 255 for victory.

Asked to explain his reasons for not wanting to comment, the Minister replied: "It's nothing personal . . . I just do not want to make any comments in The Royal Gazette because they never have anything good to say about me."

Blakeney, however, said he would be "more than willing" to speak to the Bermuda Sun whose reporter is also in South Africa.

Last month, Minister Blakeney came under heavy fire after the Annual Sports Awards, admitting he had over-ruled the Awards committee who had picked Olympic swimmer Roy-Allen Burch as their first choice as Male Athlete of the Year.

Instead, he gave the top award to racquets player Jame Stout, relegating Burch to third, behind second-placed long jumper Tyrone Smith.

Blakeney failed to inform the Sports Awards committee of his decision.

He also denied the matter had been discussed at Cabinet level, although Energy Minister Terry Lister, Burch's uncle, told this newspaper the decision was a "collective Cabinet decision."