Guyana produced a stellar performance to claim 12 medals at the recently concluded Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) Games in Venezuela.
The team which consisted of 29 athletes and seven officials from five different sporting disciplines namely Track and Field, Boxing, Cycling, Karate Do and Table Tennis landed on home soil early yesterday morning boasting their medals around their necks at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
According to Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, Track and Field was the most successful sports discipline as they brought home two silver and five bronze medals while Boxing claimed three and Karate Do two. Kumar also added that the team did well to gain more than 10 medals especially against oppositions such as Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad, Argentina and Ecuador.
“Well I’m happy for the team and generally I think they did well, I got a call from the president of the games stating that they were well behaved and I applaud them for that. Guyana had a good outing at the games but I’m not sure of our overall placing. Boxing along with Karate and Table Tennis indicated their pleasure in their team’s success,” Kumar told Stabroek Sport yesterday via telephone.
In Track and Field, Winston George clocked personal best times of 20.84s and 45.86s in the 200 and 400 metres respectively to claim silver in the 200 metres and bronze in the 400 metres. Wayne Harlequin also produced a personal best time of 1:50s to take bronze in the 800 metres while Quince Clarke clocked 10.6s to take bronze in the 100 metres. Guyana also took silver in the men’s 4×100 metres relay while taking bronze in the men’s 4×400 metres relay.
Boxing saw Imran Khan, Markember Pierre and Samuel Primo winning a bronze medal each in the flyweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions respectively while Karate claimed two medals, one coming from Patrick Cheeks in the under 84kgs male category.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport president of the Athletics Association (AAG)Colin Boyce weighed on the performance of the Track and Field team which was the largest contingent of the five sporting disciplines at the prestigious event.
“Well I would like to say congratulations to those who medalled on the team especially Winston George that ran personal best times in both his events. It was a good showing by the team and it just means that we have to continue exposing our athletes on the big stages.
“We have been dependant a lot on those athletes based overseas because there are accustomed to running under the fully automated systems and this is so because there hardly is a meet where we can judge our local athletes against those overseas to see who is better than who, but George along with Harlequin have proven that local athletes need more exposure that they so likely deserve,” Boyce told Stabroek Sport yesterday.
Stabroek Sport also spoke with George, who was the only athlete to gain two individual medals along with running what is the fastest 400 metres time by a Guyanese in over a decade which has seen him qualifying for the Pan American Senior Championships from October 14-30 in Mexico.
“Well I enjoyed it and it was definitely a great experience…after my first 400 metres outing on the rubber track I set goals for myself to meet the man with the golden shoes and I’m working towards my aspirations and goals, when it comes to me running one of the fastest times in Guyana I will just say that they will be many more like me to come,” George told Stabroek Sport yesterday.
While Guyana did not gain a gold medal at the event, the performance at the ALBA Games speaks of the volume of talent located in the Land of Many Waters.
It is talent that once invested in by the Government can only help the likes of George to achieve their dreams and also bring national glory to Guyana the way the ALBA contingent has done.
