Twenty-two of the country’s best under-18 sportsmen and women have been shortlisted to compete in seven disciplines of the inaugural South American Youth Games slated for September 20-29 in Peru.
Guyana will be competing in the disciplines of Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Cycling, Swimming, Table-Tennis and Weightlifting; with the possible addition of Taekwondo and Beach Volleyball at the Games next month.
According to Chef de Mission of the team, Karen Pilgrim, the shortlisted athletes include Andrea Foster, Dequan Cumberbatch, Tirana Mitchell, Jason Yaw (Athletics), Ambika Ramraj, Narayan Ramdhani (Badminton), Tefon Green, Joel Williamson, Michael April, Travis Fraser (Boxing), Michael Anthony, Akeem Arthur, Shaquel Agard, Alonzo Ambrose (Cycling).
Omar Adams, Hannibal Gaskin, Onika George (Swimming), Chelsea Edghill, Shemar Britton (Table-Tennis), Shariah Melville, Denoila Bristol and Darren Williams (Weightlifting) are also shortlisted.
Yaw (200m and 400m); Mitchell (100m and 200m) and Cumberbatch (100m and 200m) will compete in the sprint events while Foster (1500m and 3000m) will run in the middle and long distance races.
Green (junior flyweight), April (flyweight), Williamson (bantamweight) Fraser (light middleweight) as well as Bristol (53kg), Melville (+63kg) and Williams (77kg) will battle in their respective categories.
When contacted yesterday several heads and coaches of the various disciplines were optimistic of the sportsmen and women excelling.
“We have some of the best riders in the Caribbean and I’m confident they will do us proud at the South American level” said president of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF), Cheryl Thompson.
“I expect them to do well and make Guyana proud as always”.
Anthony (gold and silver) and Arthur (silver) have both medalled at the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships.
Said President of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA), Steve Ninvalle “We in the GBA are happy that these young boxers are getting the exposure and we would love for all of them to return with medals, but we are still in the developmental stages however we expect them to give a good account of themselves”.
One of the coaches of the national table tennis team, Linden Johnson told this publication that “as long as Shemar and Chelsea stay focused and remain disciplined they have what it takes to win at that tournament”.
Johnson added “Both of them are currently training in the USA and are participating in camps, so they should be on the ball for next month, I expect them to do well”.
The team is scheduled to wing out to Peru on September 17.
