Tucker along with the federation’s treasurer Fiona Harris accompanied the six athletes (Clink Duke, Rawle Greene, Oswin Jones, Alfred Jordan, Marlon Bennett and Alicia Fortune) to the Spice Isle where they matched muscles against 18 other countries.
Bennett’s silver in the bantamweight category and Jordan’s bronze in the welterweight class were the highlight of team Guyana’s participation at the competition. Fortune was the only other Guyanese to make it to finals and she finished fifth.
Meanwhile Duke, a seasoned campaigner, got booted in the semi-finals in the welterweight class and Greene failed to make it out of the preliminary round in the middleweight category.
Speaking at a press conference held yesterday following the team’s return, Tucker noted that apart from Duke who made his third showing at the event, all of the other athletes were making their debut.
“I think that the team did really well because if you look at it only Duke had the experience at this level and the know how, so for us to pick up two medals it’s a good showing. Also I think that with Fortune placing fifth it should encourage more females to get involved in the sport so we can have a bigger team. So after all the hard work the guys put in before I think it paid off,” the GABBFF president noted.
Tucker said that in the case of the Mr. Guyana, Oswin Jones, prior to the weigh-in, they were trying feverishly to have him lose some weight to enter the light heavyweight class but they were unsuccessful and as so he was thrown into the ocean with the bigger and more seasoned bodybuilders where he was eliminated in the preliminaries.
And Jordan who moved from being the Novice and Intermediate Champion to placing third at the senior championships and then copping a bronze medal at CAC all in one year, believes that his experience in Grenada has changed his outlook at the sport.
“I think it was very good exposure for me because looking back at my accomplishment locally and then going to the CAC and seeing those guys who make bodybuilding their lives, it has made me take a more serious approach to bodybuilding,” the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer noted.
Jordan said further that “the guys I competed against are much more developed you know, and for me to get third I think it has opened my eyes and encouraged me to work really hard to do better next year and also do good locally.”
In 2008 when the competition was held in the Bahamas, they were declared the overall winners due to some judging errors while Barbados came second.
But at the CAC general council meeting that placing was reversed and the Bajans after sweeping through the 2009 competition, picked up their second overall title.
The GABBFF has expressed gratitude to Caribbean Airlines, HJTV, Guyoil, Kings Jewelry, Exclusive Styles, Jai Singh, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the GDF, among many other sponsors whom they said were very generous in helping the local bodybuilders.
