The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) has reportedly decided to give up the two spaces that were awarded to them by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) for two of its athletes to attend the Commonwealth Youth Games which is planned for October 12th-18th in Pune, India.
According to President of the GOA, K.A. Juman Yassin, the AAG was one of three local sports organizations that were afforded the opportunity of sending their athletes to the games, along with table tennis and boxing.
“We had originally scheduled track and field, boxing and table tennis – track and field had two (spaces allocated to athletes), table tennis had three, boxing had three,” he said.
At the preliminary meetings it was indicated to the associations that the GOA would be responsible for the expenses for the athletes but the respective associations would have to bear the cost for the manager and or official.
The GOA president continued, “That was agreed to by all three associations but subsequently the AAG came back to us and said that because of other international competitions, they will be unable to bear the financial cost for the official.
“The executive committee of the GOA has discussed the matter and have decided to drop the AAG from participation in the 2008 Pune Commonwealth Games and the two places that were allocated to them will be given to boxing and table tennis respectively,” he said.
Yassin also mentioned that the chef de mission of that delegation will be Dr. Karen Pilgrim, who is the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) representative on the GOA.
When contacted yesterday for a comment on the issue AAG president Claude Blackmore opted out of a telephone interview with Stabroek Sport but not before admitting that he once again had no knowledge of the AAG not participating.
The Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) which has already begun its training will now be looking to select four athletes while the Guyana Table Tennis Association will also have the chance of selecting four.
