The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) yesterday announced a 28-member contingent for the 2009 Caribbean Games and, according to GOA president, K. Juman Yassin, Guyana will only be represented in three of the five disciplines.
The games are set for Trinidad and Tobago from July 13-19 and, at a press conference held at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport boardroom yesterday, Yassin said that the non-participation of volleyball and netball teams from the games resulted because Guyana was not ranked in those two disciplines.
Yassin said the organizing committees for the games are serious about maintaining a high standard and they have set qualifying standards for all the events.
However, it was noted that Guyana’s non-representation in the field of volleyball was due to the fact that this country is not listed in the Caribbean Zone.
“Guyana is in the South American Zone where volleyball is concerned and I know that the president, Mr. Lenny Shuffler has been trying very hard and is still trying to have them in the Caribbean Zone, so automatically they were out…Netball, we are not rated among the Caribbean countries so we can’t play,” said the GOA boss.
Yassin also said this was the case with the lawn tennis team since it was said that none of the local players are ranked within the Caribbean or
further afield but due to some negotiations, they were able to have a six-member team.
The budget for the Guyanese team stands at $2.7m and, according to Minister of Sports; Dr. Frank Anthony, government will be playing a part in terms of helping with the finance.
“Government is contributing what they have to but I hope we don’t have to come up with the entire thing, so we are asking corporate Guyana to come on board so that we can meet this target,” Anthony said.
Out of the disciplines chosen, it is believed that the boxers will have the toughest time in coming out on top. Yassin said that
unlike the other sports, the boxers are relatively young as compared to some of the Caribbean’s more seasoned fighters.
“If you look at the boxers, we have the young Cleveland Rock who recently won a silver at the Pan American youth championship, but at the Caribbean Games, there is no youth class and facing boxers from Cuba and so on, it’s really going to be hard on them but this would be a perfect learning stage for them,” Yassin said.
In track and field even though Guyana will have several overseas-based athletes such as Marian Burnett, Aliann Pompey and Adam Harris, all of whom displayed national colours at the last Olympic Games in Beijing, it is perceived that they
would also have a tough time.
“We have to be realistic here, we expect those athletes to do well and we know that they will perform, but when you look at the lineup of some of the Caribbean’s power houses like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and most recently Barbados, it is not going to be easy,” noted the GOA head.
President of the Athletics Association of
Guyana (AAG) Colin Boyce said that he expects the athletes, both local and overseas-based, to do well in their respective races. Boyce said also that the AAG was keeping abreast with the progress of the overseas-based athletes leading up to the games.
But the former national athlete, who now heads the athletics body, said it was rather unfortunate that the top two local sprinters, Rawle Green and Alicia Fortune, missed out at representing Guyana at the games.
The accomplished sprinters failed to meet the required qualifying time set to participate at the games and would have had until midnight last night to do so but that was impossible.
The athletes for the 2009 Caribbean Games are:
Athletics
Manager: Mark Scott
Coach: Linden Wilson
1. Marian Burnett – 800M
2. Aliann Pompey – 400M
3. Adam Harris – 100M
& 200M
4. Jeremy Bascom – 100M
5. Lee Prowell – 200M
6. Cleveland Forde – 10,000M & Half Marathon
7. Cleveland Forde – 1,500M, 5,000M & Half Marathon
Boxing
Manager: Clifton Moore
Coach: Evan Paris
1. Clevon Rock – Bantamweight
2. Clive Atwell -Featherweight
3. Aubrey Moore -Lightweight
4. Moolchan Sankar – Junior Flyweight
5. Bert Braithwaite -Light Welterweight
6. Devon Boastwain -Welterweight
7. Dexter Jordan -Flyweight
Lawn Tennis
Manager: Grace
McCalmon Coach: Shelly Daly
1. Shawna Gentle
2. Carol Humphrey
3. Avernelle Holder
4. Jeremy Miller
5. Ezra Sue-Ho
6. Anthony Downes
Head of the Guyanadelegation – K. Juman Yassin
Chef-de-Mission – Gokarn Ramdhani
