Standout powerlifting athletes and members of the federation were happy campers following a successful 2018 on the local and international platforms.
After a heist of international precious metal and a plethora of broken national records, it’s needless to say 2018 was a banner year for the strength sport.
Athletes like behemoth, Carlos Peterson-Griffith, Nadina Taharally, the ageless Frank Tucker along with the tireless, voluntary work done by the members of the federation, enabled the sport to reach new heights last year.
Last August, the record breaking pair of Petterson-Griffith and Taharally led Guyana’s eight-member team at the 16th IPF/ NAPF North American Regional Powerlifting Championships in Mexico City to six gold and three bronze medals.
Competing in the 93kg class, Petterson-Griffith recorded a Total of 800kg – Squatting 315kg; Bench Pressing 155kg and a Dead lifting 330kg. Petterson-Griffith then earned the best lifter award. Taharally lifted gold medal in the Women’s Classic Masters 1 and followed up that performance with a bronze medal in Women’s Classic Open72kg class, missing the silver medal by 2.5kg.
Besides Taharally and Petterson-Griffith, the other medalist for Guyana in Mexico included: Tucker, Grace Babb, Paul Adams, Erwyn Smith, Franklin Brisport-Luke and Naranjan Singh.
In the 592, the federation successfully hosted the Novices, Intermediate, Raw and the flagship, Senior National Championships. In excess of 40 records were eclipsed at these meets as the athletes are now able to perform at a higher standard. The reason: the federation now has an online data base of records that are accessible to athletes who will in turn train their minds and bodies to rewrite the record books.
Meanwhile, the federation was also able to strengthen ties with corporate Guyana and the government of the day which led to more significant financial support and sponsorship.
The federation was also received of a projector, a printer, a laptop, a generator and several screens from Pele Alumni which made the sport much more viewer friendly and scoring more efficient.
At the helm is Ed Caesar who stated that “If you look at last year, our athletes performed really well.” Caesar who added that he is currently “preparing documentation to further enhance the entire sport” will be seeking re-election on January 19 at the Racquet Centre in an effort to continue to press powerlifting forward.
The Annual General Meeting is scheduled to start at 09:00hrs. Persons willing to place their vote for the 2019 office bearers will have to pay the annual federation dues of $5,000.
AGENDA
Renewal of Affiliation
Review of 2017 AGM Minutes
President’s Report for 2018
General Secretary’s Report for 2018
Treasurer’s Report for 2018
Election of 2019 Office Bearers
Any Other Business.
The GAPLF Executive Members look forward to your attendance and full participation at this important exercise. (Emmerson Campbell)
