By Rawle Toney
Following a weekend meeting the sport directors of the three Guianas Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, decided that the first leg of the 2009 Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) would be held in Georgetown from April 23-26.
At a press conference held yesterday at the National Sports Commission (NSC), it was disclosed by the games committee that they are looking forward to the completion of the 2009 games after the second leg of the 2008 games which was scheduled for French Guiana could not have been concluded owing to civil unrest in the French-speaking country.
The committee steered by the sports directors of the three countries visited the proposed venues for the three disciplines which will be contested in the first leg of the games: football, swimming and athletics with each having both male and female participation.
Deputy Sports Director of Suriname Michael Watson said that his country was really looking forward to the conclusion of the second leg last year since they were in a prime position to add yet another overall IGG title to their credit but they understood the situation which prevented this from happening.
He noted also that they were impressed with the facilities and accommodation proposed for the games so far but the host country has the final decision.
Both Deputy Director of International Relationship of French Guiana Travis Tracy and the country’s Chairperson of the IGG Sports Committee Luc Talmon-Larodrie apologized on behalf of their country for the games not being completed.
And holding the games at a later date was deemed impossible since it would have been too close to the beginning of the 2009 edition.
They reiterated the sentiments of Suriname regarding their satisfaction with the facilities and accommodation for the games and mentioned too that they are excited to have the countries compete in the games once again.
All three countries were reluctant to release how much they lost financially in preparing for the second leg of last year’s games, but said that the disappointment for the athletes who worked hard to make the various teams was more important than any money they had spent.
Director of Sport Neil Kumar said that they enjoyed a fruitful meeting and they also met with Minister of Sport Frank Anthony who said that the various sports ministers too should be more involved and should meet on a regular basis leading up to the games.
In 2007 Guyana hosted the second leg of the games when they captured the male basketball and cycling events but it was Suriname who was crowned overall champions since Guyana did not participate in the first leg which was held in French Guiana owing to the hosting of Cricket World Cup which was held in the Caribbean for the first time.
Guyana will be defending their athletics championship which they won in Suriname last year and are also looking to better their performance in swimming in which they finished last with French Guiana taking home the title.
Suriname claimed the male and female football titles with Guyana narrowly losing out on the men’s title but it did not provide a female team.