The Guyana Amateur Weightlifting Association (GAWA) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections of office bearers on Saturday, 8th March at Olympic House, Church and Peter Rose Streets, Queenstown.
On the agenda for the AGM will be the reports of the president and the general secretary which will be forwarded for approval by members associated with the GAWA.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport, current general secretary Dion Nurse stated that the association has a number of local events slated for the year, as well as some international competitions to which they are desirous of sending lifters to represent Guyana.
“On the local scene, we have the National Novices Championships slated for 30th March at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue. This will be followed by the National Juniors Championships (31st May) and National Intermediate Championships two months later, all at the National Gymnasium. There is also the National Seniors Championships which is slated for the 9th November at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), so we have a packed local schedule for lifters,” said Nurse.
Added to the list of local competitions are fundraising activities organized by the GAWA as they seek to revitalize the sport here.
“Gone are the days when we would be having sold out venues for our events. We are looking at some fundraising ventures to help with the financing of our team of lifters who will be representing Guyana in some international competitions this year,” Nurse stated
“We are looking to send four lifters to the Criollo Cup Championships scheduled to be held in the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico from the 21st October as well as the Simon Bolivar Championships in nearby Venezuela on the 18th May.”
He also noted that “the last time we sent a lifter to the Criollo Cup championships he performed creditably well and was unfortunate not to return home with a medal. However, our intentions were to send a three-man team to that competition but the lack of finance prevented same from materializing, so judging from that experience, we have decided to start our fundraising activities early to garner the necessary finance that is needed to send the four lifters to this competition.”
Nurse further said that Guyana could expect to medal at this championship this time around. “We had Bhojnarine Persaud representing us at the last meet and as I said before, his performance was exemplary as he narrowly missed out on a medal by some 10kgs.”
The GAWA also has eyes on the Beijing Olympics slated for China in September as well as the Pan Am Masters Championships scheduled for San Juan, Puerto Rico from 10th-12th July and the association is asking corporate Guyana to come on board with some assistance.
“We know that persons like to see immediate success, but they must understand that success takes time. We would not be asking for your assistance if we were not certain of our performances at the above-mentioned competitions amongst others. Once we get the required financial assistance to go to these championships, I can assure all and sundry that the team which will be going to participate in same will return to these shores with success under their belt,” Nurse said confidently.
The GAWA is looking forward to corporate Guyana for some support in its fundraising drives that will start with a bar-b-que on 28th June at the CASH, in addition to a cake sale in front of the Water Street branch of Republic Bank.
