Director of Sports Christopher Jones yesterday revealed what could possibly be a groundbreaking evening for sports come May 4th when the National Sports Commission (NSC) is likely to announce the name change of the Guyana National Stadium at their 2016 National Sports Commission Awards Ceremony.
Set for the National Cultural Centre (NCC), the Sports Awards has been
acknowledging the strides made by Guyanese athletes as well as journalists and photographers who have been outstanding in their respective roles as ambassadors of sports every year and Jones, during an exclusive with Stabroek Sports, publicized several of the NSCs ideas for the upcoming major collaboration.
He said the idea of having the highly anticipated name change of the stadium, as well as honouring the country’s top sportsmen/women in the same evening was a great step and one which the NCS is working tirelessly on fulfilling come May 4. Jones added that another reason the collaboration was of significance for sports was because the occasion is part of the country’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebrations which will be observed May 26, 2016.
Built in 2007 ahead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) 50 over World Cup hosted by the West Indies, it is likely that he stadium located at Providence will be named after a legendary Guyanese cricketer just as other venues around the Caribbean and some parts of the world have named their stadiums and mainstream sport facilities after legendary players.
Although Jones did not reveal any of the possible names suggested, he said that a few persons with extensive knowledge of cricket have already provided a few proposals with equally good validation and statistics to support their choices.
“Essentially we are going through the process, but I have also received suggestions and data with supporting reasons from two individual sources who have been involved with cricket at high levels,” said Jones.
While no specific cutoff date for the deliberation of the name changes has been set, Jones said that the idea of having the announcements made on the evening of the Sports Awards ceremony will indeed make for a monumental occasion.
Switching topics to this year’s Sports Award, the NSC boss said the event will have a few twists as compared to previous years. According to Jones, the new twists will set benchmarks for the transparency for this and future NSC award ceremonies. He explained that the NSC had already received nominations from the respective
associations and nominees will now be sent to the panel for further deliberation.
“The nominees will know their fate on the night of the awards and only one individual in the country, someone who is very respected, will know what it is. He (the individual) will bring the envelopes on that evening. Also the trophies for the event are not done locally but are coming from overseas, the templates will have seals that only the NSC will be able to use in the future,” the director disclosed.
With regards to the evening’s itinerary which includes an after cocktail, Jones said the entire gala is expected to be an hour-and-a- half long, adding that invitations have been sent out to the Head of State President David Granger and other members of the Diplomatic Community who are also likely to be a part of the ceremony.
