Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony on Wednesday pledged more support for sports at a reception to honour athletes who participated in the recently-held Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.
His pledge followed an appeal by President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), K Juman-Yassin who implored the Minister to seek and extend further assistance to local athletes. Yassin was speaking at the reception, held at the National Cultural Centre. Attendees also included Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, CAC athletes and officials, the national cricket team and the national rugby Sevens team, among other dignitaries from local sports associations.
“The athletes need a bit more” in order for local sports to develop and athletes to reap better results at international championships, the GOA Head stressed as he congratulated the athletes. He said that
it was evident prior to, and following the CAC Games, that financial and infrastructural support from the government was a shortcoming that needed to be addressed. Yassin added that if better systems were in place to prepare the athletes ahead of the CAC Games, they could have achieved more.
He lamented that “we cannot expect athletes to perform” unless they have a system to develop their skills prior to partaking in sporting events. Athletes “need constant preparation” and not just a focus on preparing before an event, he added. “For them to perform at their highest, for them to be able to reach their zenith… they need to have persons who can assist them in their training,” said Yassin as he pleaded for more funding towards sport.
“I throw this out now to his Excellency, the President, to the minister… You have seen what the little bit could do, and if our athletes get much more I’m certain they will do better,” Yassin contended.
Referring to other countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados where the government and the private sector “spend a lot of money” on sports, the GOA head noted that locally “the GOA and sports associations are not fortunate to get anything substantial.” He encouraged the minister to “try to see what could be done” and emphasized that his statements were not meant to criticize.
In the meantime, he also recognized that “since the minister took office there has been a change” in the right direction as it relates to sports. In response, Anthony acknowledged that athletes are “deprived in various ways” as it relates to the development of sports nationally, but said he is very confident and optimistic that improvements will be made. “We are not perfect, we don’t have all the resources, but with the little that we have I think we’re doing our best and we’re trying to make it work for all of us,” said the Minister.
He pointed out that there may be “ups and downs” in the various associations but the athletes continue to strive to deliver their best performance when they leave the shores to participate in international sporting events. In this regard, he expressed his gratitude and pointed out that improvements are being made gradually, and they “will get better over time.”
Anthony said that government is extremely pleased with the local team’s performances over the past weeks and he lauded the CAC athletes for their showing, describing it as “one of our more outstanding performances ever at the CAC Games.”
“In almost every discipline that we took part in and in those that we’ve won medals we have successfully improved our previous record,” Dr. Anthony observed. The minister said further that although some of the sporting disciplines did not medal, improvement in their performance was evident, especially those sports that “Guyana are not mainly associated with.”
“We’ve been able to demonstrate at these games that as a small country with perhaps limited resources at our disposal, we have been trying our best and our sportsmen and women have done their best,” he said.
