With the arrival of the Dutch and French delegations Guyana appear to be in a complete state of readiness to show its neighbouring visitors a grand weekend full of sporting excitement when they host the second stage of the 2007 Inter-Guiana Games.
On February 3 this year, a Protocol of Agreement of General Rules and Regula-tions for the organization of the 2007 Games was signed in Paramaribo, Suriname, by the Directors of Sport of Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, namely Neil Kumar, Jean-Marie Grossat and Dr. R. Ch. Phoelsingh.
According to a release from the National Sports Commission (NSC), “the general aim of the Games is to create possibilities for the youths to gather together in order to compete in different sport disciplines focusing on better sports results and better understanding.”
After the arrivals of international teams which are scheduled for today, the second stage of the 2007 Inter-Guiana Games will officially begin with a grand opening ceremony at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tomorrow.
This ceremony, which will include a cultural component, will be declared open by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, while Prime Minister Samuel Hinds will give the feature address.
This stage features over 150 athletes from the three participating countries, competing in three different sport disciplines.
The Suriname delegation will definitely be a force to be reckoned with as they are the defending champions in male and female basketball as well as male and female volleyball.
Guyana’s male volleyball players came close to defeating the dominant Dutch side on the last occasion, so there is no telling what months of training and home court advantage could amount to this time.
After being absent from last year’s tournament, the Guyana female basketball team will be looking to compete strongly against the two very experienced and evenly-matched sides of French Guiana and Suriname.
The 12 players making up the female basketball squad for Guyana are Vashema Bourne, Erica Forte, Siana Forte, Minifa Fox, Rushell Fraser, Ginelle Ifill, Dinnelle Joseph, Sa’sha Mckinnon, Latoya Mendoza, Quandi Small, Michelle Subrattie and Kean Andrews.
The Guyana national Under-19 male basketball team has only four remaining players from last year’s roster. The returning four are John Fraser, Marlon Chesney, Kevin Evans and Captain Dave Causway. These four will be joined by 6’4 Travis Burnette, Michael Thompson, Travis Stewart, Orin Rose, Javon Nelson, Leron LaFluer, Akeem Kanhai and 6’4 Centre Jermaine Slater. This young squad will have to fully utilize all the skills, talent and knowledge gained from their practice sessions if they hope to hold off their highly skilled foreign competitors. The basketball contingent will be managed by President of the Georgetown Amateur Basket-ball Association Chris Bowman, with Mark Agard and Julian Haynes coaching the males while Abdulla Amid and Mikey Burnette will coach the female team.
Director of Sport Neil Kumar told Stabroek Sport on Tuesday that he has high expectations for all the different disciplines of sport representing Guyana at IGG 2007.
Cyclists
However, he is extremely confident in the cyclists since he thinks that they have demonstrated an extremely high level of competition.
“All the various sports have been preparing extensively for this event and I am confident that they all will do us proud, however, I am almost sure that our cyclists will dominate in this year’s competition.”
This year will mark the first time that cycling has been included in this event and with the highly skilled team of Alonzo Greaves, Christopher Holder, Geron Williams, Enzo Mathews and Scott Savory, Guyana is sure to be the overall victors in cycling.
After the conclusion of all events, the curtains will come down on this year’s sporting spectacle with a presentation ceremony.
