President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), Kalam Juman-Yassin yesterday said that he was a little disappointed with Guyana’s performance at the Pan American Games in Peru recently and issued call for more investment in sports.
Yassin was at the time speaking at a press-conference at the GOA’s headquarters, Lilliendaal where the coaches of the various disciplines were present and gave their account of what transpired in Peru.
Guyana was represented in eight disciplines but were unable to secure a medal at the event.
The head table concurred that Keevin Allicock came the closest to winning a medal and his coach, Terrence Poole opined that Allicock won the quarter final but the judges’ decision was final.
The GOA boss admitted that Allicock fought well and probably only lost the third and final round but contended that he needs to learn to knock out opponents.
“Trinidad had four boxers who qualified and the reason is they had the funds for the boxers to go to almost all the qualifying tournaments,” he said adding… I hope coming up for the Olympics there would be two qualifying tournaments and with the sports policy that there will be funds for several boxers to qualify.”
Similarly, Paul Mahaica’s contention was that there needs to be greater investment in the swimmers.
He said that it was hard to medal when athletes continue to come out of the sport and a new crop enters every time whereas some medal winners in swimming have seen as much as three Pan Am Games.
David Fernandes, representing Squash, said that he took away a lot of positives since the sport participated for the first time.
Fernandes divulged that Nicolette Fernandes helped the team qualify in the Cayman Islands and had not participated in the Pan Am but nevertheless the team finished sixth. He acknowledged that the training was intensive but more needs to be done.
Table tennis sensation, Chelsea Edghill was happy for the experience but was most of all proud to have made the games in her discipline after 29 years but vowed to do better since accepting that she is one of the better players in the region.
Her coach Idi Lewis stated that world class players participated in the event with some of them professionals adding that a short stint in Portugal was not enough to prepare her for this level and he too called for more to be invested in the sport.
General Secretary of the GOA, Hector Edwards also supported Edghill as one of the better players from Guyana on show but said she lacked the necessary maturity, something he noted could only come from more exposure.
Edwards shared the same view of the badminton team but was critical of the Rugby unit which he suggested should take a step back and assess their situation in order to move forward since they were far from peak performance.
The General Secretary added to the call for more investment in sports, citing Caribbean countries who see their returns after investing.
Guyana, he said, saw things in reverse by wanting returns before investment.
“We look at countries of the Caribbean but they have been investing. We in Guyana don’t seem to realize that you get returns after you invest, we got a totally different view you have to invest first,” he said.
Edwards used the example of Jamaica which featured experienced stars and up and coming youngsters who were given the exposure, but admitted that “we do not have that luxury in Guyana.”
He said that the country should stop treating athletes as a burden but rather a vessel to enhance sports tourism and help the economy.
Juman-Yassin, when asked about the contributions made by the GOA and trainers to bring players up to standard explained that they had done more than they could with a few disciplines affording training out of Guyana while some had international trainers coming to assist.
The GOA boss noted that if there is proper investment there can be a lot for the athletes to develop but as it stands, the athletes are doing their best with limited or no funding.
