The door has closed on Island athletes wishing to qualify for next month's Commonwealth Games.

The deadline for consideration for Bermuda's team for the Manchester event was this past weekend and the names are set to be revealed late today.

Michael Cherry, chairman of Bermuda Olympic Association's technical committee, said there would be no entertaining requests for an extension.

His comments came in light of Bermuda Track and Field Association's bid to give middle distance runner Ashley Couper more time to qualify for the 1500 metres.

Couper (21) suffered a stress fracture just as she stepped up her bid to make the squad and has only been back in full training for a fortnight or so.

She travelled from her home in California at the weekend to compete in the USA Track and Field New England Championships at the MIT Track in Cambridge, close to Boston.

Needing to record a time of 4:20.0 or below, Couper was hampered by poor weather conditions and finished third in a time of 4:21.64.

That proved to be her last opportunity with the BOA sticking to their guns over the cut-off date.

"It was an executive committee decision and the BTFA knew that before she ran," said Cherry. "The deadline was set for the weekend of the 15th and 16th and it would not have been fair. Once you set a deadline, if you change it for one sport then other sports say why can't you change it for us.

"All the athletes knew last year that this June weekend was the deadline so we saw no reason to change."

Cherry sympathised with Couper's situation but said the BOA needed to draw a line somewhere. "All the athletes have lots of time to qualify and have known about the Commonwealth Games for the last how ever many years.

"Sometime down the line you have to make a stand. We bend over backwards as much as possible but sometimes you have to say `enough is enough guys and girls, you've had lots of time you should really have qualified last year or whenever'," he said.

Two others trying to make the team were Jonathan Herring and Jamie Pedro.

The pair competed in the Nike Victoria International Triathlon in Canada but neither made the qualifying time of 2:07.00.

Herring came in at 2:11.00 and Pedro 2:16.13.

As for the rest of the squad, Cherry said things had not changed markedly.

"We did get a couple of shooters who were submitted last week who did a qualifying (event) in May," he said. "Then the other day we got a submission from Track and Field for Devon Bean for the long jump, which of course we still have to ratify."

On Monday the BOA held a technical meeting when those people still outstanding were the subject of ratification. The executive committee then met yesterday "when the recommendations from the technical committee will be submitted for approval or not," Cherry said. "The General Council meets on Wednesday (today) and provided they don't have problems we will be in a position to advise exactly who has been confirmed."

The Commonwealth Games start on July 25 and run until August 4.