Dear Editor,
We need to understand something so that sports ambassadors with the potential to represent Guyana at any given regional or international competition will not be deterred.
Whenever anyone is selected to represent Guyana, that’s already a major accomplishment, and no meet is just about medals alone. Participation is as important as a medal around the neck ‒ well, that’s my belief.
Recently I read a report about a family member of Berbician powerlifter, Gumendra Shewdas, who failed a drugs test saying that medals don’t put food on the table, and his trainer saying that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) must back off.
WADA is an international anti-doping agency put in place to identify sports cheats from any country and by so doing protect the clean athletes from being robbed of the opportunity to stand on a podium.
An athlete continuing to go down the avenue with the mentality of the relative and trainer of Shewdas should move aside and allow the next person in line the opportunity of a lifetime to represent Guyana at any given competition meet out of Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
T Pemberton
